From next Tuesday, November 28public transport cards T-Usual, T-Casual, T-Grup and T-Familiar will stop selling progressively in the classic cardboard format with magnetic stripe. The intention of the Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM) is to initiate a “gradual transition” towards the exclusivity of T-Mobilitat, the ‘contact-less’ ticket that debuted in 2021 and with which more than one million daily trips are already made in the Barcelona area.
To carry out this transition, the ATM already has a T-Mobilitat card for sale that would be a “midpoint“between the old format and the original T-Mobilitat (available in a hard plastic physical format and on smartphones); which consists of a harder cardboard card, with contactless and rechargeable technology. This format will be the one that the self-service machines at the stations will print from now on.
Since last September 14, the availability of these new tickets had been announced in a specific T-Mobilitat cardboard format, easier to use for a certain part of the population since, unlike the original, they can be obtained without prior registration by users, for an initial price of 50 cents which only has to be paid on the first purchase, since the titles will subsequently be recharged on the same medium.
Likewise, users of the T-Usual who use the cardboard T-Mobilitat will need to present their ID card or passport at the time of purchase, since it is a personal and non-transferable title.
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This process of change will take place in the metro machines, Rodalies, FGC and TRAM, starting November 28 and the forecast is for it to be completed by mid-December of this year. As for tobacconists and kiosks, the ATM has announced that the change will come later.
Validation machines will continue to accept old cardboard cards with magnetic stripes until they are exhausted. or the expiration date set for January 15.