Public Transport in Spain for Americans: Passes, Cards and 2026 Fares

Spain’s public transport passes currently sell far below their official tariffs: a state decree-law pays for part of most passes until December 31, 2026, and the regions stack their own discounts on top. For a newcomer, the obstacle is paperwork. Most monthly passes are personal, and some ask for a padrón certificate (proof of your registered address from the town hall), a Spanish ID number or a local youth card. Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Málaga each run their own consortium, card and youth age, so the best pass depends on your city. This article is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice; verify current requirements with the relevant Spanish authority or a licensed professional.

What can cost you money on Spanish public transport in your first weeks?

The biggest leak in the first weeks is paying full fare while your papers catch up, and a few traps add to it.

• Singles. Singles get no discount, from either Royal Decree-law 17/2025 or Madrid’s 2026 reductions. In Madrid, a 10-trip ticket for Metro zone A and city buses costs 7.30 euros, against 1.50 to 2.00 euros for a single Metro trip.
• Waiting for a card. Madrid’s personal card requires a padrón certificate issued within 3 months (registering on the padrón); until the card arrives, you are on 10-trip prices.
• Airports. Barcelona’s T-casual, 10 trips for 13 euros in 1 zone, is not valid at the Aeroport T1 and T2 metro stations. In Madrid, Metro singles and 10-trip tickets pay a 3 euro supplement.
• ID. A Barcelona T-usual, a personal 30-day unlimited pass, has to travel with its holder’s official ID, and an Abono Único with a DNI or NIE, Spain’s identity card or foreigner identification number.
• E-scooters. An uninsured ride can cost up to 800 euros, and taking a scooter onto Barcelona’s network 200 euros.

The main 2026 passes, city by city

Use this table to price your monthly commute; every amount is the 2026 price actually paid, after the temporary discounts.

The state discounts and the Abono Único

The state picks up part of your monthly transport bill in 2026, and the regions can add more. Royal Decree-law 17/2025 pays for three discounts throughout 2026 on transport run by regional and local governments: free tickets for children born from 2012 to 2026, 50 percent off youth tickets, and 20 percent off other passes and multi-trip tickets. Return and tourist tickets are left out, and Renfe’s Media Distancia (regional) passes get 40 percent instead. Congress validated the decree-law on January 27, 2026.

The Ministry of Transport funds 20 percent of the urban discount, and anything deeper is up to local authorities: the Valencian government adds 20 percent and the Junta de Andalucía does the same, for 40 percent in total. That page’s own FAQ still describes a discount of at least 40 percent, cofinanced 20 percent by regions and cities, plus at least 50 percent off bike-share passes, while the decree-law itself sets the state’s 20 percent and has no bike-share measure.

The government’s note of August 24, 2026 mentions 50 percent off up to age 26. Yet the decree-law’s aid criteria (quoted in BOJA no. 5 of 2026) set no age, and the ministry’s FAQ lets each authority set its own youth age band.

Renfe gets a job under the decree-law too: creating, in each Cercanías network (its suburban trains, called Rodalies in Catalonia), a personal 20 euro monthly pass for all zones, with a 10 euro youth version for Spanish nationals and legal residents born from 2000 to 2011.

The Abono Único

The Abono Único buys 30 days on state-owned interregional buses, Renfe Cercanías and Rodalies, Media Distancia trains and some Avant (fast regional) trains, for 60 euros, or 30 if you were born in 2000 or later. City buses and metros are not included.

• Papers. According to the August 24 note, issuing it takes a DNI or NIE, a phone and an email. The ministry’s FAQ requires no registration for the general pass, and operators check a DNI, NIE or driving license. Neither mentions a passport, so get your NIE first.
• Youth price. Foreigners need legal residence, and every youth-price buyer registers with the ministry at least 24 hours before the first pass. One FAQ answer narrows it to births from 2000 to 2006, so check when you register; the train travel guide has the details.
• Where. It has been on sale since January 19, 2026 through Renfe and the bus companies; without a compatible card such as Renfe&Tú, loading it adds a 1 euro surcharge.

Getting the card in each city

Each city runs its own card, so the setup cost and the papers change from one network to the next.

Madrid

The Tarjeta Transporte Público Personal is for residents of the Comunidad de Madrid and listed towns in Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León. You bring a DNI, passport or residence permit, a padrón certificate under 3 months old and a recent color photo. For 4 euros you get a card good for 10 years. Apply online and it arrives by mail about a week later, or book an appointment at a management office and walk out with it the same day.

It holds the Abono 30 días, 40 percent off in 2026 for ages 26 to 64, the Abono Joven at 50 percent off, and the free Abono +65, while children aged 7 to 14 ride free. The consortium’s ticket page lists the 30-day pass on the personal card only; the anonymous Multi card (2.50 euros) takes singles and 10-trip tickets.

EMT Madrid buses take contactless Visa, Mastercard and American Express cards on all lines, and pass holders skip the airport supplement. The Exprés Aeropuerto bus is a flat 5 euros on that page and in the 2026 price list, but 5.10 on the 2026 tariff table; expect to pay 5 on board.

Barcelona

The 2026 fares started on January 15, 2026, keeping 50 percent off the T-usual and T-jove while the whole range rose about 3.5 percent on average. If all you have is a passport, buy a T-usual on a cardboard T-mobilitat card at a ticket machine, no registration needed; the card adds 1 euro to your first ticket. The 2026 fare conditions let a cardboard card carry one ticket at a time: the T-usual version needs your DNI, NIE or passport number written on it, and a T-casual goes on a separate anonymous card.

The T-jove needs a registered card, since the Jove profile goes to registered users under 30. The same fare conditions accept a DNI, NIE or passport to register, online or in person, and to prove the Jove profile, which online registration assigns automatically to under-30s.

The T-usual works at the Aeroport T1 and T2 stations on L9 Sud, and El Prat sits in zone 1. Without it, the airport ticket costs 5.90 euros, including a 3.05 euro surcharge, against 2.90 for a metro single. TMB, the operator, sells singles by contactless bank card on buses and at some metro entrances.

Valencia

The ATMV takes 40 percent off passes and multi-trip tickets and 50 percent off youth passes, and children up to 14 ride free. Its SUMA Mensual covers 30 days on EMT buses, Metrovalencia, Metrobús and Renfe Cercanías: 21 euros for 1 zone, 31.80 for 2, 52.80 for 3, with no discount on zone D combinations. Zones marked with a plus sign include the Manises airport stop.

The SUMA Mensual is open to anyone on a personalized card, and home delivery adds 1 euro. For the Móbilis 30 youth pass you need a Carnet Jove, the Valencian youth card, free from 14 to 30 and issued on a DNI or NIE; passport holders first register at an IVAJ (Valencian youth institute) office. The e-office also asks foreigners applying for the Móbilis 30 for the police-issued residence certificate, without saying whether a TIE, the residence card, will do.

The ATMV’s cards page also mentions its Colón metro office by appointment, while the e-office says online only, card mailed home. The safe bet is to apply online.

Seville

The consortium card costs 1.50 euros, non-refundable, at authorized outlets. It takes top-ups of 5 to 500 euros that never expire and works on metropolitan buses, Metro line 1, Renfe Cercanías and Tussam city buses, except special services and the airport. In 2026 it takes 40 percent off passes and multi-trip tickets, and children born from 2012 ride free.

The Tarjeta Joven is for Andalusian residents under 30 with a DNI or NIE and a photo, and the padrón certificate is waived in 2026. How much it saves is unclear: that page describes 20 percent on top of a 30 percent card discount, reaching 50, while the 2026 notice speaks of an extra 50 percent for riders up to age 30. No official 2026 fare for Tussam or Metro de Sevilla was found on September 26, 2026.

Málaga

Paying by card on metropolitan buses is 40 percent cheaper in 2026: 0.62 euros a trip within one zone against a 1.60 euro single, and 0.39 for a transfer. The same card pays for Renfe Cercanías Málaga trains, where since July 15, 2026 the revised fares are 1.04 euros within one zone and 1.18 with one zone jump. The city keeps 40 to 50 percent off EMT bus passes through 2026.

Metro de Málaga charges 0.49 euros a trip with the card until December 31, 2026, or 1.35 by contactless bank card, with no registration. Its page describes the consortium youth card as 20 percent off through a 50 percent top-up bonus, while the gazette and the consortium give an extra 25 percent on top-ups; the gazette is the legal text. The consortium’s youth card page asks for a DNI or NIE and a padrón in Málaga province, but drops Andalusian residence for its 2026 extra discount. Buying the card itself costs a 1.50 euro fee, according to the consortium’s card page.

Bikes and e-scooters

Two wheels add options for short trips, each with its own fee structure and its own rules.

• BiciMAD. Madrid’s bikes carry no annual fee, per the operator: 0.50 euros for each of the first two 30-minute blocks, then 3 euros per 30 minutes, or 10 euros a month for rides of up to 30 minutes. It requires a helmet under 18, while the Traffic Act requires one under 16 and, on interurban roads, for every rider.
• Bicing. Barcelona’s bike share runs 50 euros a year flat or 35 for occasional use, plus per-trip charges, and is open to riders over 16 with a DNI or NIE and a bank card.
• Elsewhere. No official fee page turned up for Valenbisi (Valencia) or Sevici (Seville), and Málaga’s cycling page lists a plan and a report on public bike lending but no fee.

An e-scooter counts as a VMP (vehículo de movilidad personal, a personal mobility vehicle): electric, single rider, with a design top speed of 6 to 25 km/h. It needs a circulation certificate showing it meets the technical manual of the DGT (Dirección General de Tráfico, the national traffic authority). Since January 22, 2024 only certified models may be sold, and uncertified ones sold earlier may circulate until January 22, 2027. No page read covers scooters brought from abroad.

1. Register. Riding takes a registration certificate and a label (page updated May 7, 2026); plate makers sell the label, and the DGT gives no price. The fee is 8.67 euros. Filing online needs a digital certificate, electronic DNI or Cl@ve login; otherwise book a Jefatura de Tráfico (provincial traffic office), bring your NIE, the technical sheet and a photo of the serial plate, and pay by card. If you do not consent to the data check, Royal Decree 52/2026 asks for an ID copy and a padrón certificate. It sets no separate deadline for scooters already owned.
2. Insure. Law 5/2025 made third-party insurance compulsory from January 2, 2026; register first, then insure. That January DGT release puts the fine for not insuring a scooter at 202 to 610 euros, and for riding it uninsured at 250 to 800. The DGT’s magazine of May 22, 2026 gives 200 to 610 and 300 to 800; budget for the higher figures.
3. October 1, 2026. From that date, Royal Decree 518/2026 requires riders to wear a fastened, certified helmet and, at night or in poor visibility, a light or reflective element visible at 150 meters. Until then, article 118 of the traffic regulations sets no terms for the scooter helmet that the Traffic Act requires. From October 1, 2026, nobody under 15 may ride, and daytime use of lights becomes mandatory from October 1, 2027. Sidewalks stay off limits.
4. Trains and metros. Barcelona’s ban on scooters in public transport remains indefinite, as the city announced in 2023. Since September 7, 2026, Renfe accepts registered, insured scooters, folded and switched off, on some trains; on Rodalies, the Generalitat, the Catalan government, sets its own rules. No Madrid Metro or EMT scooter rule turned up.

What changes on January 1, 2027

What happens in 2027 is not settled. The state aid stops on December 31, 2026, and an Abono Único cannot start after that date. The government’s August 24 review says nothing about the following year, and no extension had been announced by September 26.

• Madrid. The consortium defines the prices paid as the tariffs minus the bonuses; the 2026 tariffs are 56.20 euros for a zone A pass, 12.50 for 10 trips and 20.00 for the Abono Joven.
• Valencia. Decree-law 6/2026 carries the cuts only to December 31, 2026. Passes bought at the reduced price can be used until January 31, 2027, and unused ones exchanged from January 1 to March 31, 2027 by paying the difference. Metrovalencia’s page prints other dates, apparently in error; go by the decree-law.
• Andalusia. Málaga’s reduction runs to December 31, 2026, and so do Seville’s bonuses.
• Barcelona. The pages read say nothing about 2027.

Your first week: which card to get, and when to get help

In Madrid, get on the padrón first and use 10-trip tickets or a contactless bank card in the meantime; in Barcelona, buy a T-usual on a cardboard card; in Valencia, apply online for a SUMA Mensual; in Seville and Málaga, buy the consortium card. If you are under 30, apply for the youth pass as soon as your papers allow, and in late December, check whether the discounts were extended before you reload. Your first month in Spain lists the other early deadlines, the TIE guide covers the residence card, and the U.S. license guide covers driving instead.

Buying any pass and registering a scooter are jobs you can handle alone. Bring in a licensed professional to contest a transport or scooter fine, or after a scooter accident without insurance.

The Spain Navigator lines up every step of your move to Spain in order, from the visa to settling in.