A flat rate of 20 euros: the new commuter train ticket from July

BarcelonaA notable new feature for all Catalans who regularly take a commuter train: from July 1st there will be a new train ticket. It will be a flat rate of 20 euros that will allow you to travel for a month through the 6 railway zones in the country. The new pass was detailed this Wednesday by the Secretary of Mobility, Manel Nadal, in a parliamentary committee, but it is a measure that was approved by the Spanish government at the end of January and, now, the Catalan government is taking it on.

This new ticket, which will be nominative and will last for a month from the moment it is validated, will allow you to travel within urban centres and also between them. It will be a solution for when on June 30th it will no longer be possible to use the free recurring pass that is currently still paid for by the State with a deposit of 10 euros by the traveller.

Starting July 1st there will also be a change in bonuses that users will not notice in their pocket, but which is also notable. After from the end of the year series to see what happened with the transport bonuses and what part would be assumed by the State and what by the autonomous communities, in just four months the rules of the game will be exchanged.

The 50% discount on T-Usual, T-Jove and large family and single-parent passes that is currently in effect will continue to apply, but the part of the discount that is assumed by the State and the part that is assumed by Catalonia will be reversed. This means that if until June 30 the Spanish government will pay 30% of these tickets and the Catalan government 20%, from July 1 the State will only assume 20% of the discount and Catalonia will have to increase its responsibility by assuming the remaining 30%.

"I refuse to accept that there is bad public transport"

In the parliamentary commission Nadal has had to accept several reproaches from the various political parties regarding the functioning and state of public transport in Catalonia. Criticisms that the Secretary of Mobility does not share: "I refuse to accept that there is a bad public transport service in Catalonia - Nadal has defended -. If you tell me that Cercanías does not provide the service that citizens want, we can agree, but the user satisfaction surveys give a very high mark to the metro, to the railways." And he added: "We have a good transport system, I would say even enviable for many countries in our context."

On the other hand, the Secretary of Mobility has again referred to the possibility that, in the future, Catalonia creates its own ticket that can also be used in other places in the State. In fact, a few months ago, the Minister of Transport and Mobility, Óscar Puente, already explained that the Spanish government was studying the implementation of a single transport system for the entire State, but this Tuesday Nadal has assured that the Catalan ATMs are going to create their own titles for this reason. According to the Secretary of Mobility, all this will be achieved with a political agreement with the State. However, at the moment there is no forecast date for the implementation of this interoperable ticket with other public transport systems in the State.