After many weeks of political debate and uncertainty, the Spanish and Catalan governments have stepped on the gas and, in less than 24 hours, have defined and announced next year's transport fares and ticket types. Now, with these new changes, understanding the vast array of options, prices, and discounts is no easy task, and users will have to carefully consider which ticket offers the best value starting next year. We break down all the changes and announcements made in the last few hours in four sections:

Getting tickets has become one of the most stressful competitions of recent times. Whether they're paid or free. Of course, there are still plenty of shows that would love to sell out, but the feeling that we're missing out because we're not on top of things or moving fast enough is growing. Before, queues were physical; people would get up very early or sleep on the street to get a concert ticket. Now, queues are virtual; people wait in their pajamas at home in front of a sign on their computer screen indicating their number in an endless queue. The technological lottery will decide whether you've been lucky or whether your day will be ruined by not being able to get a ticket for a unique event that will happen a year from now. Or more. Because spontaneity is dead. And we, perhaps before even attending the show, are too. But the important thing is having gotten the tickets.

Digital money, in a strict sense, has been with us for a long time. Fortunately, paying, transferring, or accumulating money is, in most cases, a process that no longer involves any physical exchange—neither coins nor bills—nor the use of traditional payment instruments such as checks, cheques, or promissory notes. All of these have been progressively replaced by card charges, transfers, and other transactions reflected only in accounting entries, without the physical movement of money.

Lady Gaga sold out all the tickets for the three concerts she will perform in Barcelona in October this Thursday in less than four hours, the only details of her tour. The Mayhem Ball In Spain, the 54,000 tickets available for the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona were sold out from 12 noon to 4 p.m., according to promoter Live Nation. The album Mayhem, since its release, has been an automatic success with critics and the public, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.

Tickets are over in the blink of an eye. To get to everything, we are forced to plan months in advance so as not to miss that show, that live artist or that meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant. The wait increases if we want to go to a concert or festival, sometimes up to two years. But do we get tired of carrying a QR code on our mobile phone to access a leisure space, or are we moving hopelessly towards a horizon where improvisation is impossible?

The drastic discount in ticket prices will be felt – positively – by commuters' pockets, but also – and clearly negatively – by the public transport system's coffers. The Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM) has approved this afternoon to halve the price of most transport tickets from September 1 to December 31. Thus, T-Usual and T-Jove monthly and quarterly tickets will be half price and T-Casual 10-journey tickets will cost 30% less. The price of tickets for single-parent or large families and the unemployed, which already enjoyed a discount, will also be halved, as will Berguedà and Ripollès packs.