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Malaga
Friday, 6 December 2024, 14:22
The Junta de Andalucía has approved a new fare option with progressive discounts for Malaga's metro passengers that will benefit users who use the public transport service frequently. The prices will become cheaper depending on the number of journeys they make during a single month, meaning discounts of between 25% and 50%. The new, personalised fare option can also be applied to the EMV contactless smart payment system (MetroPay), which allows users to validate their journey with their physical or virtual credit card (on their mobile phone), therefore avoiding the need to purchase or top up their travel cards at vending machines.
The regional minister of Public Works, Rocío Díaz, explained that the main objective of this measure is to "reduce the average price of the journey for frequent users, as is done in most metropolitan transport systems."
As a result, Malaga's metro has joined the Junta de Andalucía's regional discount policy, which rewards frequent users of public transport in order to reduce the number of private vehicles in metropolitan areas and contribute to reducing climate change. The metros in Seville and Granada already reward frequent travellers with specific tickets such as the BonoPlus45 and Bono30 respectively.
This new progressive discount fare option, which will be available from 1 January 2025, will extend Malaga metro's range of fare options, which already includes cost-reduction options both for large families and for young people, including the discounts available with the Consorcio de Transportes multimodal card (for certain buses, trains and metro).
These new discounts will be calculated and applied on the basis of the current fare on Metro de Málaga's fare card, including the discounts currently in force. The way it works is that the price will gradually decrease the more that passengers use the metro during any one month. To be precise, if a customer makes between 21 and 40 journeys in a month, the price will drop by 25%, then the discount is 50% for any travel after 40 journeys. At the end of the month, the counter resets to zero.
Users wishing to purchase the progressive discount fare option will have to provide a photograph and name in order to personalise the physical card, and topping up will be done in the same way as for Metro de Málaga's fare card, both at ticket vending machines and online. The minimum recharge will be 5 euros and the maximum recharge will be 50 euros, with a maximum balance of 55 euros.
The card can be used both via the conventional fare-paying system and via EMV technology, which allows direct payment and validation with a bank card or mobile phone. In March this year, Metro de Málaga implemented EMV technology for its ticketing system, which facilitates and simplifies card checks and payment with any valid Visa or Mastercard. In the second phase of implementing EMV (active from 1 August), users could register on this system (known as MetroPay) to benefit from the cheapest ticket price at that time, which is the price of the Metro de Málaga fare card. Meanwhile, those not registered on MetroPay, but who make use of EMV contactless payment system, pay the price of the 'occasional fare' option (in other words, they pay for a single journey ticket).
Likewise, as was already applicable in the second phase of the MetroPay system, multi-validation (someone accompanying a card-holder) is allowed, but progressive discounts are only applied to the first passenger.
MetroPay's post-payment system will also apply, allowing registered users to pay for their accumulated journeys at the beginning of the following month. In the case of non-registered users who use MetroPay, payment will be taken at the end of the day of travel.
This modification of the Metro de Málaga fare system has been processed by the Public Works Agency following prior consultation with consumer and user associations, which resulted in favourable reports, with the final resolution being sent for publication in the Junta's Official Gazette (BOJA) and the Official Provincial Gazette (BOP) for Malaga, although, as stated before, the new fare system will not come into force until 1 January 2025.
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