90% of validations public transport in Catalonia are registered in the scope of the Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM) of Barcelona. But the territory is much larger, and those benefits that began at the beginning of the century, with unified titles and bonuses, have still not reached all corners of the country more than two decades later. It will happen, or that is the Government’s wish, during 2024. This was announced this Tuesday by the general director of Transports i Mobilitat, Oriol Martori, who has participated in a professional day organized by the Catalan Business Federation of Passenger Motor Transport (FECAV).
A practical example to understand the importance of the measure. The last area to enter tariff integration was Garrotxa, which joined the Girona ATM. With this decision, the public transport users in the area they can have titles such as T-Mes, T-10, T-50/30 and, what is surely more important, the T-Jove and the T-16. It happens that the kids of Barcelona have bonuses that young people from areas without integration do not even know exist because the bus operators do not apply them. Integration also implies power make transfers between two or more lines without having to pay the ticket again.
Pay by distance?
By the way, if you don’t see the T-Usual or T-Casual in the previous list is because, for now, they are exclusive to the area of the Catalan capital. That is, in fact, another problem, since there are four zones in Catalonia (Barcelona, Lleida, Girona and Camp de Tarragona) that function as watertight compartments, that is, a route that jumps zones does not allow said integration to be applied. In a indeterminate futurethe ideal would be to have a unified tariff system for all of Catalonia. This should come from the hand of T-Mobilitat, a transport ticket whose ultimate reason for being is to charge for distance travelled. That is, the traveler will pay at the end of the journey based on the kilometers he has covered, which will put an end, among other things, to tariff crowns.
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The Asociation Promotion of Public Transport (PTP) made a map a few months ago showing the areas that are not part of the tariff integration. There are still 12 regions – in addition to Aran – that are outside: all those of the Terres de l’Ebre (Ribera d’Ebre, Terra Alta, Baix Ebre and Montsià), all those of the Alt Pirineu (Alta Ribagorça, Pallars, Sobirà, Pallars Jussà, Alt Urgell and Baixa Cerdanya) and the regions of Solsonès, Alt Empordà and Baix Empordà. La Selva and Pla de l’Estany have a partial integration, with municipalities that are integrated and others that are not. He Berguedà and Ripollès are integrated into the Barcelona ATM with a special regime, known as the seventh crown, which only offers passes for ten trips to Barcelona, but which It does not integrate the routes with neighboring regions such as Osona or Bages.
New validators
Martori has announced that on January 1 he will join the Lleida ATM the Alt Pirineu and Aran, so that the rest will be absorbed over the next 12 months. It is not a simple job, since operators stop using their own transport tickets, which implies, among other things, in addition to modify the pricing policy, change validating machines, which must be designed to incorporate the T-Mobilitat, the card that should also be deployed throughout Catalonia at some point in 2024. In fact, points out the head of Territori, one thing leads to another, since without complete tariff integration, it is impossible for the new card to reach everywhere.