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Date Published: 05/12/2022

ARCHIVED - Passengers who abuse the free train scheme in Spain will have their passes removed

ARCHIVED ARTICLE -

Renfe will also withhold the 20 euro deposit of passengers who routinely fail to cancel unused trips in Spain

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Passengers who abuse the free train scheme in Spain will have their passes removed

Rail operator Renfe has decided to come down hard on passengers abusing the free Media Distancia season tickets, after countless ‘ghost bookings’ resulted in regular commuters being unable to secure a seat on the train.

From the moment the free travel scheme was announced in September, there were problems with travellers booking several seats on different trains and failing to cancel the unused trip. This meant that trains were leaving the stations half empty, while the app and website were showing that the carriages were full to capacity.

From now on though, Renfe will seize the 20 euro deposit needed to secure a season ticket and it will cancel the subscription of any passengers who fail to cancel their reservations within two hours of the train departing on at least three occasions. Travellers whose passes are removed will not be issued with a new pass for 30 days for any medium distance rail services.

So there is no confusion, Renfe will issue two warnings when it detects that a passenger has failed to cancel a reservation within the appropriate time frame. On the third occasion, their pass will be cancelled, although they will be given seven days to make alternative travel arrangements, during which time their subscription will remain valid.

When these new regulations come into effect on Wednesday December 7, Renfe will also limit passengers to booking four round trips daily on the season pass, and travellers won’t be able to book two journeys in the same direction if they are scheduled too close together.

On certain high-demand trains, Renfe also plans to leave 10% of the seats out of the reservation system.

Despite the problems, the Ministry of Transport is pleased at the reception the free train travel scheme has received. In fact, so successful has it been that the government is going to offer free travel on long-distance buses for the duration of 2023.

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