Spanish residents and tourists can travel free on journeys under 300 kilometres until December 31.
The new scheme, which began on Thursday, allows both Spanish residents and tourists to travel across the country on a free ticket. The 100% rail discounts will apply to all local trains and medium-range routes provided by Renfe, the national operator. Single tickets, long-distance trains and those operated by other companies are excluded from the scheme.
The tickets will be free but passengers will have to pay a €10 deposit for suburban lines and a €20 deposit for middle-distance journeys. At the end of the year, the deposit will be refunded if the ticket holder has used the ticket at least 16 times between September and December.
According to Reuters, nearly half a million people have already pre-ordered the free transportation cards and Renfe expects the initiative to result in 75 million free railway journeys.
Spain is not the only European country seeking to ease the impact of rising living costs. Germany launched a similar measure between June and August with a €9-a-month ticket scheme that resulted in around 52 million tickets being sold nationwide.
