Madrid (EFE).- Public transport will continue to be reduced by at least 50% until June 30 throughout Spain, once the 17 autonomous communities have accepted the Government’s condition of discounting at least 20% of the rate that the State contribute another 30% during the entire semester.
On Tuesday the deadline for the communities to officially notify the Ministry of Transport whether or not they accepted the conditions for the joint discount for public transport in this period, all the regional governments -Ceuta and Melilla included- have joined the initiative, as confirmed by the EFE delegations in Spain.
Measures for the consequences of the war in Ukraine
The measures approved at the end of 2022 by the Government to respond to the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine forced the autonomies to supplement the price of multi-trip passes and tickets for collective urban and interurban public transport with a 20% discount. if they wanted the State to continue contributing the 30% that it had put without conditions since September 1.
The new 50 percent discount on public transport is applied in Andalusia to the consortium network card and to the tickets for the Seville, Malaga and Granada subways, after the Government of Juanma Moreno accepted the condition imposed by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda.
In Aragon, the order assuming 20% of the cost of season tickets until June 30 was signed on January 24.
Companies that already have a season ticket or multi-trip tickets must apply the discount through a refund to travelers who have purchased them since January 1, and a 10-trip personal season ticket has been created for companies that still did not have any kind of fertilizer.
The Asturian Government sent the documentation to the Ministry on Monday, although it considers it a “procedure” since the Principality had already been complying with the conditions established by the State since January 1, with an additional 20% on 10-trip vouchers and up to 58% in the case of the CONECTA rate, which allows unlimited movement throughout Asturias on all collective public transport for 30 euros per month.
In the two archipelagos there are no changes and public transport will continue to be free under separate agreements with the Government.
In the Balearic Islands, both the urban bus in Palma and the intercity buses throughout the community have been free since November for residents with a citizen card (in the case of Palma) or an intermodal card (for the TIB bus in Mallorca and the equivalent in Menorca and Ibiza).
In the Canary Islands, the final bonus is 100% on urban buses, interurban buses and trams, for users with a minimum of monthly trips
The Cantabrian Minister of Transport, Javier López Marcano, already announced on December 29 that Cantabria would apply the initiative of the Ministry even if its cost rises to between 850,000 and one million euros: «We have studied it well and we will be present trying to lend a hand once again,” he said.
In the case of Castilla y León, its 20% will be added not only to the 30% discount from the Government but also to those that it has already been applying in the transport passes under its jurisdiction: up to 35% in those for metropolitan transport and the 100 in the rural voucher “Transport on Demand”.
And in Castilla-La Mancha, the joint 50% for regional public transport is increased to 70% in groups such as young people or the elderly.
Catalonia: the bonus is not for all tickets
In the case of Catalonia, the T-Jove (quarterly tickets for under 25s) and T-Usual (monthly) tickets maintain the 50% bonus, but the rest of the tickets, such as the T-Casual (the individual ticket of 10 trips), have recovered their usual price.
From the Generalitat it is considered that “it is not sensible to allocate hundreds of millions to lower rates and not invest resources to mitigate energy cost overruns -180 million euros- or to improve the offer.”
The Valencian Government has recently reported that the discount will be applied as of February 1 to the entire Metrovalencia network, Alicante and Castellón TRAM, MetroBus and other concessions, and that this discount will coexist with free public transport for under 30 years.
Extremadura has not only contributed 20% but will finance 100% of the intercity bus routes.
In addition, it offers up to 15% of the seats for trips outside the region free of charge, a measure that is complemented as of today with the Ministry’s multi-trip tickets, so that all intercity bus routes, whether inside or outside from the community, are free.
The Xunta de Galicia had already decided last week to maintain the 50% discount on regional buses applied since September as long as the central Executive maintained its part of the discount.
Madrid Community: the price drops with a 60% discount
In the Community of Madrid, the price drops even more as of this Wednesday, with a 60% discount that will be maintained until June 30, since the Madrid Government raises the percentage it assumes of the bonus to 30%.
The Murcian Executive, which did not complement the reduction in the last four-month period of 2022, as the PSOE reproached him, announced last August that it would maintain that 30% bonus with its own resources until June 2023 and now it will reduce it by a complementary 20% to 30 % state.
In Navarra, the regional government already announced on December 27 that it would apply its contribution, at least during the first half of 2023, to reach a 50% discount, which it estimated would reach more than 100,000 trips on the interurban transport service.
In Euskadi, the Basque institutions reached an agreement at the end of December to maintain the 50% discount on public transport prices, so that 10% from the Basque Government and another 10% from the provincial councils are added to the 30% state forales and municipalities.
In La Rioja, the 50% bonus is maintained, since the La Rioja Executive has decided to add to the state contribution and bonuses the remaining 20%.
In Ceuta, the Government of Juan Jesús Vivas has accepted the conditions although it has regretted having little time to analyze the proposal and Melilla has accepted the measure through an agreement with the Ministry of Transport by which the bus pass is subsidized 50% from Monday.