Free trains to combat the effects of inflation in Spain. During the State of the Nation debate in Parliament on 12 July, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that his government would make some train tickets in the country free from 1is September and until December 31, 2022. The measure concerns Renfe subscriptions (the Spanish equivalent of the SNCF) on the regional and suburban public networks (Cercanías, Rodalies and Media Distancia).
“The introduction of this measure is motivated by two main reasons, details the Catalan newspaper The vanguard. On the one hand, the attempt to mitigate global warming, which is fueled by fossil fuel vehicles, such as cars. On the other hand, the increase in fuel prices over the last few months caused by the war in Ukraine.”
The center-right daily specifies that the train tickets will be paid for “by public money”, that is to say, by taxes. The site on the left Public applauds an initiative which he says will allow people on low incomes to travel for free. Nevertheless, the media fears “saturation issues” on some lines.
All roads lead to big cities
Furthermore, Public estimate that “doubts” hover as to “the ability of the state [espagnol] to increase frequencies and improve services”. In the same vein, the digital newspaper notes that the lines affected by the future free tickets converge mainly on Madrid and Barcelona, the two largest cities in the country, isolating certain underserved autonomous regions, such as Extremadura.
Spain is not the only country in Europe to move towards free public transport, observes The vanguard. The newspaper cites Luxembourg, where national and foreign travelers no longer have “need to buy a ticket to use the public transport network” since 2020. In Germany, the government of Social Democrat Olaf Scholz has for its part set up a transport pass at 9 euros to allow users to travel across the country during the summer of 2022.