The Minister of Transport, , announced this Thursday that his objective is to create Spain from 2026. The measure, which already works in Germany or Austria, consists of a pass to travel throughout the national territory—normally, excluding trains high-speed and long-distance—for a monthly amount that in the German country is 49 euros. He has been proposing this initiative for months, which in his proposal would range from 30 to 49 euros per month. In any case, its future application will depend on a complex negotiation with the city councils and the autonomous communities, managers of most of the urban and metropolitan public transport.
“The objective and challenge in 2026 is to implement the single ticket in Spain, something that Germany has, which has advantages and disadvantages there, and failures that allow us to learn. [de su experiencia]. I hope that in 2026 we will go to that extent that allows for a greater and better distribution of resources, generating comfort for users, but, above all, focusing our efforts on the quality of public transport,” said Puente.
general secretary of Sustainable Mobility of the ministry, explains to EL PAÍS: “It is a measure that allows access to public transport to be simplified, in the sense that with a single ticket you can access trains, subways, trams and buses, eliminating barriers, because Nowadays, using public transportation in a city that is not yours becomes a jumble.” In his opinion, “having a card that allows you to move throughout the territory will make the use of sustainable mobility easier, and will become a good solution for users, which will attract more people to public transport.”
. There, the price is 949 euros per year (about 79 per month), which allows you to use all means of public transport in the country (buses, trams, subways, trains, trolleybuses…). In addition, for 110 euros more per year, the user is allowed to travel with up to four children. The denomination of climate ticket (Klimaticketin German) refers to the fact that it is a way to make public transport more attractive compared to the car, which is much more polluting, and thus fight against climate change. When it was launched, it included mobility in six States, while three other States did not join in at the start.
Precisely the inclusion of all affected administrations will be the greatest challenge of the initiative of the Ministry of Transport, which is only the owner of the Cercanías train service (Rodalies in Catalonia), as well as regional and medium and long distance trains. The rest of the urban public transport (buses, subways, trams and even public bicycles) are managed either by the city councils or by consortia that depend on the autonomous communities; The negotiation is expected to be complex.
Other countries have opted for this model. The biggest example is Germany, which in the summer of 2022 created a temporary ticket for only 9 euros per month. , a subscription that for 49 euros per month allows you to use all means of public transportation in the country—with the exception of high-speed trains—regardless of where you buy it. The federal government and the 16 federal states committed to co-finance the bill in equal parts, which came into force in 2023.
In Spain, the closest thing so far are the transport passes for the metropolitan areas of Madrid and Barcelona, which for a monthly amount (they start at 55 euros in Madrid and are worth more the further you go) allow you to travel by all means of transport. transport. It is these passes that the current subsidy from the Ministry of Transport has made it possible to reduce (the one in Madrid is now worth 20 euros), but the idea is to replace these subsidies with the new single pass in 2026.
200,000 signatures in support of the measure
Greenpeace has been betting on this new model since September 2023, which has already managed to collect more than 200,000 signatures. “The number of people who use public transport does not stop growing. Now, action needs to be taken to make public transport affordable, more intuitive and user-friendly on a permanent basis. That is why we demand the implementation of a single transport pass, which we have called “, explains Cristina Arjona, mobility spokesperson for the environmental NGO.
For Arjona, “this single subscription would allow users to access all modes of public transport with a flat rate (which could range from 30 to 49 euros per month), facilitating interoperability between the different systems and eliminating tariff barriers. and administrative between regions and communities. This would not only encourage greater adoption of public transport, but would facilitate travel in a country where the car continues to be the protagonist outside of large cities.”
Fernández Heredia anticipates that the negotiation will not be easy: “The different competencies must be taken into account. In general, urban public transport depends on city councils, the metropolitan on consortia and communities, then there are bus lines that depend on the ministry, as well as public service train services. [cercanías y media distancia]. Our objective is to offer this way to integrate them all, but it will be necessary for city councils and communities to sign up.” Commercial services, such as the AVE, would be left out of the initiative.
