The Community of Madrid will lower the cost of 30-day transport passes by 50% between 1 September and 31 December this year. This move therefore adds a further discount of 20% to the already announced 30% reduction, which was approved in July. As previously established, a multi-journey ticket will be 30% cheaper than its original cost.

The new fares were approved today at a meeting of the Board of the Regional Transport Consortium of Madrid (CRTM), chaired by Regional Minister David Pérez, who condemned the fact that the State is only bearing 8% of the total cost of this public service, since its share is based on the final payment by the user, without taking into account the huge subsidies applied by the regional administration, which amount to an average of 70% of the total cost of the various tickets.

The Regional Minister therefore condemned the fact that the Madrid executive is channelling 1.2 billion euros a year into this subsidy, as opposed to the 121 million provided by the central government, and also that the state aid will have a limited validity, only from 1 September to 31 December this year.

“With the new system created by the Ministry and adopted in a Royal Decree Law on 1 August, out of a youth ticket that has a total cost of €111, the user pays €10 and the State only contributes €6, while the additional discount of €4 corresponds to the saving caused by an exemption from compensation to Renfe for the use of the Cercanías local train system. The same thing occurs with the normal zone A season ticket, which costs €136.6, to which the Autonomous Region administration contributes €82, the user €27.3 and the central government €16.4, with an additional discount of €10.9 because of the exemption from compensation to Renfe Cercanías”, said Pérez.

COST OF SEASON TICKETS AND MULTI-JOURNEY TICKETS

A transport pass is a personal, non-transferable ticket, which allows an unlimited number of journeys to be made within its spatial and temporal scope of application. In order to be used, it must be loaded onto the Public Transport Card (TTP). There are eight fare zones - six of them within the Community of Madrid and two in Castilla-La Mancha - and each more outlying zone includes the inner ones (e.g., B3 can be used in areas A, B1 and B2), except for travel between zones.

As of 1 September, the 30-day Youth Season Ticket, which can be used by young people under the age of 26, will go from costing €20 to one-half of this, and can be used in all zones.

In addition, the users benefiting from the unification of the fares for B3, C1 and C2 season tickets, which came into force on 1 January this year, will pay €41 per month, as opposed to the current €82. In this case, the total cost of this ticket is €227, out of which the Autonomous Region executive contributes €145, the central government €24.60, the traveller €41 and the remaining €16.40 comes from the saving on paying Cercanías for the use of the Transport Pass on their network.

People over 65 years of age living in the region will pay €1.60 euros a month from 1 September, instead of the €3.30 they have been paying until now. And Metro, Metro Ligero and EMT 10-journey tickets, which have a 30% reduction in price, in accordance with the application of the national Royal Decree Law, will cost €8.50 from 1 September, provided they are used within zone A.

OTHER DISCOUNTS AND FREE SEASON TICKETS

There are discounts on all types of season ticket for large families in the general category, which have an additional reduction of 20%, and those in the special category, with 50%; in the case of people with a disability of more than 65%, it is 20%.

Meanwhile, blue card users will pay €4.30. The blue card is a transport ticket designed for people registered as living in the city of Madrid who meet certain age or disability criteria, and it has an income limit. Finally, the more than 64,300 children aged 4 to 6 who use the children's TTP will continue to travel free on public transport.

The following table lists the prices for the different season tickets that were approved at the meeting of the Board of the Regional Transport Consortium of Madrid and which will come into effect on 1 September this year:

                             PRICE TABLE

30-DAY TICKETS                IN FORCE        SINCE 01/09/2022

Children's Card                                   FREE

Senior citizens                3,30 €                1,60 €

Young people                  20,00 €              10,00 €

Normal zone A                 54,60 €              27,30 €

Normal zone B1                63,70 €              31,80 €

Normal zone B2                72,00 €              36,00 €

Normal zone B3 - C1/C2        82,00 €              41,00 €