Renfe tightens the conditions for the free medium-distance travel pass in Spain
Three months after its entry into force (1 September), the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (Mitma) has tightened up the conditions for applying for free conventional medium-distance travel cards to prevent, according to sources in the department headed by Raquel Sánchez, “the misuse of these tickets, for example certain users who reserve a seat on trains with the card and then do not travel”.
After having detected irregular use of the tickets, which undermines the effectiveness of the measures aimed at encouraging demand for public transport and helping to reduce CO2 emissions, the Ministry has approved a series of measures, most of which will be put into operation on 7 December.
Thus, through the resolution published this Monday in the Official State Gazette (BOE), which modifies the operation of the sale and use of free multi-journey Media Distancia tickets, the formalisation of journeys and the purchase of season tickets will be restricted and repeated irregular use will be sanctioned, among other actions.
Specifically, Renfe will seize the 20 euro deposit and cancel the free travel pass of users who, on at least three occasions, have not cancelled their seat reservation at least two hours in advance if they are not going to travel on the train.
Although the season ticket shall only be withdrawn for the line on which irregular use has been detected, the railway operator shall not issue a new season ticket associated with that holder for any medium-distance origin-destination within 30 days of the cancellation.
Before withdrawing the season ticket and the deposit, Renfe will send two warnings to the holder when it detects that he/she has not travelled without cancelling the reservation with the required advance notice, and the third time that improper use is made, a penalty will be imposed.
At the same time, the maximum number of journeys that can be made per season ticket is limited to four outward or return journeys per day, and it will be impossible to make two journeys in the same direction until three times the scheduled journey time has elapsed.
In addition, in order to facilitate greater use of trains, Renfe may establish a quota of standing seats on certain trains with seat reservations and high demand, i.e. without reserved seats, which will not exceed 10 % of the seats offered with seat reservations, informing passengers of this condition, and on these high-demand trains seat selection will not be available.
Likewise, a specific season ticket will be launched for minors without DNI and only one ticket per DNI, NIE or passport will be available for each origin-destination, thus avoiding improper use of these tickets.
This specific measure will come into force on 1 January 2023, coinciding with the activation of the extension of the extension of the subsidies for public rail transport, an initiative that has been warmly welcomed by the public, who have already purchased more than 2.2 million free travel cards, of which 1.6 million are for travel on Cercanías and Rodalies and 627,000 tickets are for conventional Media Distancia.
