Spain's public transport discounts set to continue into 2024, but only for certain groups of people

Currently, there are free passes for regular commuters on Cercanías local trains, discounts on Renfe's medium-distance services and on intercity buses for frequent users

Edurne Martínez

Madrid

Tuesday, 7 November 2023, 09:11

The government has pledged to maintain Spain's discounted train and bus travel in 2024, but only for specific groups of people.

Acting transport minister Raquel Sánchez said on Monday (6 November) that the aim of the new government - in the event of a coalition between PSOE and Sumar - is to maintain the discounts of season tickets in 2024 under the same conditions as 2023, and to make this a permanent measure, but only for certain groups of people.

Currently, the discounts are divided into free passes for regular commuters on Cercanías local trains, discounts on Renfe's medium-distance services and on intercity buses for regular users. In addition, the government included a discount for transport passes managed by the regions (train and bus) by financing 30% of the discount if the regions extended it to 50%.

The announcement comes after the allocated budgeted 1.4 billion euros for public transport discounts in its new budget sent to Brussels a few weeks ago, although at the time ministry of transport sources said that did not mean the discounts would be automatically extended.

While Sánchez said the measure helped combat inflation and reduce energy dependency and fuel consumption, an independent report by Esade revealed the discounts have not driven cars out of big cities. The study concluded that the level of traffic remains the same as before the introduction of the public transport discounts.

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