The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Oscar Puentechose this Monday to end the free vouchers on the Media Distancia and Cercanías trains, which would end on December 31 in the event of non-renewal.
In an interview with SER chain“, the minister mentioned that the renewal of free vouchers on trains will depend “on budgetary negotiations and” decisions of the Spanish government “. I can anticipate that my position, of course, is that this policy needs to change,” Puente said.
In this regard, the government of Carlos Mazon asked the minister “a urgent clarification regarding the recently published information regarding the end of public transport bonuses”, since This would harm nearly 490,000 Valencians under 30 years old.
Concretely, the number of cards issued corresponding to the Youth Subscription for minors up to 30 years old was 488,978 during the year 2024, from January to September of this year. The Valencia metro issued 351,990 tickets; the Alicante TRAM, 122,998; and the Castelló TRAM, 14,000.
It is for this reason that the Valencian Government referred to Puente: “The lack of specificity of the information published generates great uncertainty both for transport operators and for users, which could make budgetary and service planning difficult in our Community “.
The Valencian Executive nevertheless believes that the bonuses have been a “key tool” to encourage the use of public transport and reduce the economic burden on users, especially in a context of economic recovery.
They ask that Óscar Puente confirms whether the information regarding the purpose of these bonuses “is accurate”. “And if so, what deadlines and modalities are envisaged for its implementation in order to more precisely assess the impact and adopt the relevant measures to mitigate any negative effect on our budgets and on the public transport service we offer to citizens”, they add. writing.
New formulas
The head of Transport explained that the policy of free public transport “was temporary, due to inflation in Spain, and was intended to relieve the family economy”.
“The commitment to public transport must be above all in quality, in comfort, in punctuality. This is where the effort must be made. I am one of those who believe that we will gain users public transport, not in it depends on the price of the ticket, which is quite reduced compared to the private vehicle, but on the question of whether we offer the user more quality, more reliability and more frequencies”, said he argued.
In this context, Puente stressed that the ministry must make an effort to maintain social bonuses and reward users who use public transport the most.
“We are thinking about a form of payment in arrearsDepending on the number of uses you have made, the price will be cheaper. In other words, the repeat user will get a much better price,” he said.
