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Spain will soon offer a new single travel pass which can be used unlimitedly on most forms of public transport regardless of the city or region for a fixed price of €60 a month.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday announced the creation of a new single transport pass valid throughout the country.
This will be a fixed-price public pass which offers unlimited travel on commuter and mid-distance trains as well as metro services and buses across the country’s 17 regions, with more means of public transport likely to be added.
According to Sánchez, the measure aims to “forever change the way Spaniards understand and use public transport,” as well as promote sustainable mobility, reduce the use of private vehicles and alleviate the transportation costs for families in Spain.
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Following the last Spanish Cabinet meeting of the year, to be held on Tuesday, the government will approve a royal decree-law to implement this new fare system.
Spain’s leftist government first announced their plans for a nationwide transport pass in January of this year, but what remained unclear was how much it would cost.
How much?
Now it’s been confirmed that the pass will cost €60 per month for adults, and €30 for young people under 26.
It will allow unlimited travel on a wide network of public transport services.
As the Spanish premier explained, “All citizens will be able to get a pass that will allow them to travel throughout the country,” granting access to commuter trains, regional trains, the metro, and state-owned buses.”
However, high-speed rail services such as the Ave will for now be excluded from the €60 offer as well as privately-run long-distance bus companies.
That means that the abono único cannot be used as a sort of ‘Interrail pass’ for fast and cheap travel across Spain.
Residents on the other hand will cut costs on their daily commutes or when travelling in other parts of the country.
“A worker who travels daily from Vigo to Santiago or from Jerez to Seville can save up to almost 60 percent of their monthly public transport expenses,” Sánchez said during his speech.
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When?
The single travel pass is meant to become available in the second half of January 2026.
Current transport discounts will remain in place during the first half of the year.
A temporary €20 ticket per four-month period will also be introduced for Cercanías Renfe commuter trains, reduced to €10 for young people and vulnerable groups.
This timeline will allow for a gradual adjustment for both users and Spanish transport authorities.
“We expect all regional and local public transport networks to gradually join,” Spanish government sources have said about the possibility that more forms of transport will be available through the card.
Why now?
According to Sánchez, the single transport pass offers a “very strong commitment to sustainable mobility and also to the working and middle classes,”, labelling it “a transformative and highly relevant measure for the daily lives of our fellow citizens.”
In recent years, the government of Pedro Sánchez has implemented various anti-crisis measures to mitigate the economic impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 , which caused a sharp rise in inflation, especially in energy, fuels and food.
Among the most notable were free or discounted season tickets (up to 100 percent) for commuter, regional, and intercity bus services, in effect since March 2022 and extended until June 2024.
Since then, discounts have been reduced to 60 percent.
The stabilisation of prices and the exhaustion of these funds for Spain’s cost-of-living crisis has meant that the Spanish government is now instead promoting this new single countrywide transport pass.
The Spanish government says the measure will benefit two million public transport users.
