Soon some public train rides in Spain will cost absolutely nada for both locals and tourists.
The country recently announced that anyone will be able to board the various trains between popular tourism destinations in the state-owned rail network, Renfe, for free from September 1 until at least the end of the year.
While the aim of the free tickets is to help lessen the crunch of inflation for residents, visitors can use them, too. There are, however, some stipulations for the program. Namely, the free rides are not available for single-journey commuter trains or long-distance routes (like Madrid to Murcia).
It does apply to multi-trip ticket journeys (10 or more) on commuter trains or mid-distance routes (under 300 kilometers, or about 186 miles). Still, tickets between many major tourism hot spots would be covered, like Léon to Madrid, Granada to Málaga, Córdoba to Seville, Madrid to Toledo, Barcelona to Tarragona, A Coruña to Santiago, and Valencia to Requena Utiel. Normally, most of the soon-to-be free trains are usually under $20 each way.
This new policy is an addition to the 30 percent discount on all public transport, including buses and trams, which was announced in June.
Spain isn’t the only country in Europe to reduce transportation costs this year. Germany’s national railway, Deutsche Bahn, announced a €9-a-month ticket program in May. It can be used on local or regional trains until the end of August.
