PASSENGERS can now apply for free season tickets to travel on Spanish national operator Renfe’s suburban and conventional medium-distance services, under the scheme introduced by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda (Mitma).
Mitma hopes that the scheme will help lessen the impact on frequent rail users of the price rises caused by the war in Ukraine, and also encourage the use of public transport to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
The free season tickets will be made available from August 24, and passengers are now being invited to register via the Renfe website and mobile apps. The free tickets will be valid from September 1 to December 31, when Renfe will suspend sales of new season tickets and honour those that are still valid.
Passengers will have to pay a deposit of €10 for each of the 12 suburban networks operated by Renfe across Spain, and €20 for each single journey on conventional medium-distance services.
The deposit will be refunded if the passenger makes 16 journeys over the four months that the scheme operates, with Renfe recommending that the tickets should be acquired by app so that the deposit can be automatically refunded to the user’s card account.
The free ticket will take the form of a QR code, which will also be available from ticket vending machines and station ticket offices.
Alongside free travel on suburban services, from September 1 to December 31 Renfe is also offering a 50% discount on multi-trip tickets for Avant high-speed services operated under PSO contract.
Holders of existing tickets valid for this period will be able to apply for a 50% refund of the cost of the journeys they make.
For travel on high-speed and conventional long-distance services operated on a commercial basis where the journey time is under 1h 40min, new multi-trip tickets offering a 50% discount will be on sale from September 1 to December 31.
They will be valid on the following routes: Madrid - Palencia; Madrid - Zamora; León - Valladolid; León - Palencia; Burgos - Madrid; Burgos - Valladolid; Ourense - Zamora; Palencia - Valladolid; Huesca - Zaragoza; León - Segovia; Segovia - Zamora; Palencia - Segovia; and Medina del Campo - Zamora.
