Gone is the need to have a physical Multi Transport card to travel on the Madrid metro or on one of the buses that circulate in the region. Since Monday, November 18, the mobile application allowing you to recharge all 10 travel vouchers available via a virtual card is generally activated.
The system currently only works on phones equipped with the Android system, with the exception of the Virtual Transport Card application (not to be confused with the application Transportation cardwhich is used to recharge physical cards). Thanks to this application, any user can acquire the Multi electronic card and connect it to their Google Wallet.
The steps to do this are as follows: firstly, the traveler must check that they have a version of their mobile phone Android 7.0 or higher (phones purchased from 2016) and also that their Google Wallet is activated or, failing that, download it from this link. It only works with devices that allow NFC transactions, an option currently available on most mobile phones.
Next, you need to download the aforementioned Virtual Transportation Card application from the Google application store and assign a credit card from which travel ticket purchases will be paid.
Next, the user needs to select the type of bonus they want to purchase and then click on the buy button. confirm and pay for the transaction to be finalized.
Once the transport tickets have been loaded, you must insert the virtual Multi card into your Google Wallet by following the instructions in the application.
From this moment, you will have the card available to pay for your metro or bus trips: the trips will be deducted and when the meter reaches zero you will have to recharge the card again.
The system chosen by the Community of Madrid to pay for public transport is a virtual translation of its current Multi model, which requires recharging the transport ticket necessary to travel in each transport zone.
Other autonomous communities use more intuitive systems for the user, such as those that use wallet cards, with an updated balance depending on the trip made, without the need to accumulate different bonuses depending on the areas to which we want to travel.
Zone and iPhone subscriptions, by 2025
After a test period during which only a small group of users had access, the Multi virtual card is active for combined 10-journey EMT and Metro tickets, tourist passes and the airport surcharge on the suburban network .
At the moment, its use is not available for iPhone phones and monthly transport subscriptions cannot be recharged either. The Regional Transport Consortium ensures that both options will also be available in 2025.
Finally, the Community of Madrid has assured that the download of this new application will be free for the next six months, without however indicating the price it will have after this period or the concepts for which a supplement will be applied.
