Passengers who have previously received two reminders will be charged a deposit of 20 euros and will not be allowed to withdraw a new voucher within a month
Just a few days ago, Renfe reported that it had discovered 75,000 travelers misusing their passes to travel for free on Media Distancia trains. And just two weeks after Renfe began sending text and email warnings to violators, Renfe has already revoked 70 passes from travelers who reserved a seat on one of these trains and then failed to take it, leaving the rest of the users could not take the train. seat with wagons that were half empty.
In a statement, the operator reports that the deposit of 20 euros has been seized from these 70 people and that they are prohibited from taking out another subscription within a period of at least 30 days. “The aim of the measures introduced on December 7 is to prevent the misuse of these tickets, in particular the behavior of certain users who reserve a seat on the trains and then do not travel,” says Renfe.
Before canceling the subscription, the user received two warnings from Renfe that the third violation would be revoked. The company requires users to reserve only the seats they’ll be using, and if they can’t, cancel the reservation at least two hours in advance.
Since 7 December last year, the operator has applied various conditions to limit these violations. The maximum number of trips that can be formalized per subscription is limited to four daily round trips and it is prohibited to formalize two trips in the same direction until three times the scheduled travel time has elapsed.
The operator indicates that the abuse of free tickets is limited to 3% of the more than 2.3 million season tickets purchased, but “it harms the rest of the citizens by limiting their mobility and undermines the effectiveness of these tickets whose the aim is to stimulate the demand for public transport and contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions”.
There will also be a specific pass for minors without a DNI, although this measure will take effect on January 1, coinciding with the activation of the extension of the public transport discounts. Since the measure came into effect, more than 2.2 million free passes have been issued by Renfe, including 1.6 million for Cercanías and 627,000 for Media Distancia.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
