Free Avant trains, medium distance lines with cheaper deposits and an anti-fraud plan with season tickets that will be announced in January
The new anti-crisis decree that the Council of Ministers approved this Wednesday generally maintains the discounts and free use of certain train journeys for frequent users, although with some variations. For example, three lines of the Avant network will be discounted at 100% instead of 50% as in the majority and, conversely, another three will be considered Cercanías service and not medium distance, so that the price of finance will be reduced from 20 to 10 euros. In all these cases, users must be holders of frequent traveler passes for which the Ministry of Transport is preparing an “anti-fraud” plan that will be announced at the beginning of January.
The Government will allocate 600 million to compensate Renfe for discounts on train fares and another 80 million more in compensation for the free state bus lines, which will also be free in 2024 for those who have a frequent passenger subscription.. Transport estimates that the savings for households add up to hundreds and thousands of euros, depending on the route and the number of members.. For example, a family with two adults and two teenagers that uses the Cercanías from the outskirts of Madrid will save 3,297 euros in 2024 or 1,252 euros for a passenger traveling by train from Valladolid to Palencia.
As detailed by the Ministry of Transport, in 2024 the 50% discount will be maintained for frequent passengers holders of Avant passes, although some lines will be free, the one that links A Coruña and Ourense, Murcia and Alicante and the connection points between Madrid and Salamanca.
Although they are free, subscribers in these three cases must leave a deposit of 20 euros, the same amount that the rest of the users of the Avant lines declared “public service” will have to pay, who will continue to enjoy a 50% discount throughout 2024.. The cost of the deposit will be halved for five “local” routes that in 2023 were considered 'medium distance' and will now be considered Cercanías services, so that subscribers will only have to leave a deposit of 10 euros that , as in the rest of the cases, will be recovered when the four-month validity period expires.. These are the rail services between Palma del Río and Villa del Río (Córdoba), Málaga-El Chorro-Caminito del Rey, Murcia-Cartagena and Medina del Campo-Valladolid-Palencia.
As recalled by the Ministry, the Avant lines with a 50% discount are: Seville-Córdoba-Málaga, Seville-Córdoba-Granada, Málaga-Granada, Figueres-Girona-Barcelona, Lleida-Barcelona, Madrid-Medina del Campo, Valladolid- Segovia-Madrid, Segovia-Medina-Salamanca, Madrid-Ciudad Real-Puertollano, Madrid-Toledo, Albacete-Cuenca-Madrid/Toledo, Cuenca-Madrid, Cuenca-Requena/Utiel-Valencia, Madrid-Palencia, Madrid-Zamora, León -Valladolid, Burgos-Madrid, León-Palencia, Burgos-Valladolid, Ourense-Zamora, A Gudiña-Ourense, Palencia-Valladolid, Huesca-Zaragoza, León-Segovia, Segovia-Zamora, Palencia-Segovia, Medina del Campo-Zamora, To Gudiña-Puebla de Sanabria, Zamora-Puebla de Sanabria, Puebla de Sanabria-Ourense and To Gudiña-Zamora.
As detailed by the Ministry of Transport, next year free multi-trip passes will be maintained for each Cercanías network and for each origin-destination of conventional medium-distance trains.. As until now, they will be valid for four months, valid until April 30, August 31 and until December 31. The Ministry reminds that users will be able to buy the voucher for the first four months of the year on the Renfe or Cercanías and Rodalíes website and app in “the next few days”, when the anti-crisis decree approved this Wednesday is published in the Official Gazette of the State (BOE).
Anti-fraud measures
Both in the case of Cercanías and Media Distancia and to access the free passes to travel by bus, these bonuses are limited to “recurring users” who must comply, such as making at least 16 trips in the period of validity of the pass, for four months in the case of trains or a whole year in the case of buses.
However, Transport has announced that Renfe “will reinforce anti-fraud measures” to prevent people who only travel punctually from using them, which will be accompanied by “citizen information campaigns.”. A few months ago it changed the way of issuing passes in the case of Cercanías and Media Distancia trains and now it is finalizing measures focused on Avant trains that will be announced at the beginning of January.