The Government modifies the conditions of the free Media Distancia subscriptions after detecting irregularities

The deposit may be seized from travelers who misuse the tickets and a specific season ticket is launched for minors without DNI.

The Government modifies the conditions of the free Media Distancia subscriptions after detecting irregularities

The deposit may be seized from travelers who misuse the tickets and a specific season ticket is launched for minors without DNI

MADRID, 5 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda has modified the conditions of use of the free conventional Media Distancia season tickets to avoid the incorrect use of these tickets, especially the behavior of certain users who reserve a seat on the trains with the season ticket and then They do not travel, as reported this Monday by the Department headed by Raquel Sánchez.

The Official State Gazette (BOE) today publishes the new conditions for these subscriptions, which will come into operation, for the most part, next Wednesday, December 7.

Thus, after detecting irregularities, the Ministry of Transport has modified the operation for the sale and use of free Media Distancia multi-trip tickets, restricting the formalization of trips and the acquisition of season tickets and sanctioning repeated irregular uses, among other actions.

Specifically, Renfe will seize the deposit of 20 euros and will cancel the free subscription to users who, at least three times, have not canceled the reservation of the seat with a minimum of two hours in advance if they are not finally going to travel on the train. Although the pass will only be withdrawn from the line in which irregular use has been detected, the railway operator will not issue a new pass associated with that holder for any medium-distance origin-destination within a period of 30 days from the cancellation.

Current regulations establish that, in the case of conventional Medium Distance rail services, users must purchase a different pass for each origin/destination journey, which will be valid for unlimited trips between the origin and destination requested by the customer, on both senses.

Before arriving to withdraw the payment and the deposit, Renfe will send two notices to the holder when it detects that they have not finally traveled without canceling the reservation with the required advance notice. The third time misuse is incurred, a sanction will be applied. Even so, a transitional period of seven days is established in which the traveler will be informed of the breach without this implying the application of the measure.

In parallel, the new conditions will limit the maximum number of journeys that can be formalized per season ticket to four daily roundtrips and it will be impossible to formalize two trips in the same direction until triple the scheduled travel time has elapsed.

Thus, the Government wants to prevent it from distorting the effectiveness of a measure that was carried out with the aim of encouraging demand for public transport and contributing to reducing CO2 emissions.

For its part, on certain trains with reserved seats and high demand, Renfe may establish a quota of standing seats, that is, without reserved seats, which will not exceed 10% of the seats offered with reserved seats, informing said travel condition to travelers. Seat selection will not be available on these high-demand trains.

Likewise, a specific subscription will be launched for minors without DNI and only one title can be obtained by DNI, NIE or passport for each origin-destination, thus avoiding improper use of these titles.

This measure will enter into force on January 1, 2023, coinciding with the activation of the extension of discounts for public rail transport.

The Ministry highlights that the free passes for rail transport have been very well received by the population, which has already acquired more than 2.2 million tickets, of which 1.6 million are for commuter and Rodalies travel and 627,000 Titles are for conventional Media Distancia.

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