Finish the car. Alfonso Trebol, a 47-year-old civil servant, based in the town of Colmenar Viejo, forty kilometers from Madrid, has changed the way he travels since the entry into force, in September, of free subscriptions for Spanish suburban and regional trains . “Before, I alternated car and train, for which I sometimes took out a subscription, at 70 euros per month, which only allowed me to make one round trip per day from my home to the station where my office is located. », he explains.
“Since it’s free, I took an unlimited subscription and I no longer take my car, neither to go to work nor to see my friends in Madrid, go out in the evening or have dinner with colleagues. It allows me to save more than 200 euros per month, and I spend twenty-seven minutes by train, without stress, during which I can read or listen to music, whereas in the car I could lose between forty-five minutes and an hour in traffic jams”, he explains, delighted.
Over the past three months, the use of commuter trains has increased by an average of 30.5% in major Spanish cities. If the frequentation of the equivalent of the RER has increased by 25.7% in Madrid and by 28.7% in Barcelona, allowing them just to recover the level of frequentation pre-Covid of 2019, in certain cities, such as Malaga, Seville or Bilbao, it rose by more than 55%. For regional, medium-distance trains, the number of users has jumped even more sharply: + 60% on average compared to 2021, and + 20% compared to 2019.
” Public health “
For the left-wing government, which decided on this free service in order to encourage Spaniards to use public transport and relieve the budget of families, undermined by the sharp increase in fuel prices, it is a success. So much so that he decided to extend the measure, which was to end on December 31, for the whole of 2023, and to include the ticket books for the coaches of the forty lines managed by the ‘State, in order to allow to go where the train does not go.
To finance this measure, the government has included an envelope of 660 million euros in the finance law, which is in addition to the 200 million euros disbursed in 2022. “Our desire is to help families, especially those with low incomes, who are the ones who use public transport the most, while contributing to the energy autonomy of Spain and Europe”explained the Minister of Finance, Maria Jesus Montero.
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