The Metropolitan Transport Authority ( ca, Autoritat del Transport Metropolità, ATM) is a public consortium intended to coordinate the operation and project the expansion of the

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

system in the

Barcelona metropolitan area The Barcelona urban area is an urban area in Catalonia (Spain) centered on the city of Barcelona and located less than 100 km south of the border with France. With a population of over 5 million, it is the most populous urban area on the Me ...

. It is made up of the

Government of Catalonia The Executive Council of Catalonia ( ca, Consell Executiu) or the Executive Government of Catalonia (Catalan: ) is the Executive (government), executive branch of the Generalitat of Catalonia. It is responsible for the political action, regul ...

and local administrations. It has been known as ATM ''Àrea de Barcelona'' since 2003 to differentiate it from the other existing Catalan public transport authorities in the

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan language, Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter River, Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in ...

Camp de Tarragona Camp de Tarragona () is a natural and historical region of Catalonia, Spain. It includes a central plain, surrounded by the Serralada Prelitoral mountain chain on the west and in the north, with the Mediterranean sand beaches of the Costa Daur ...

and

Lleida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...

areas, which are also identified as ''ATM''. , the ATM-managed public transport system comprises 50 different operating companies and serves 346

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

, accounting for a population of over 5.7 million. Created in 1997, the ATM has since developed an Integrated Fare System ( ca, Sistema Tarifari Integrat, STI) based on concentric fare zones. There currently exist about 80 different types of multiple-time tickets or unlimited passes for use on the STI, all of which allow free-of-charge interchange between transport modes in a single trip. In 2012, it was announced that the ATM was planning to upgrade the current

magnetic stripe The term digital card can refer to a physical item, such as a memory card on a camera, or, increasingly since 2017, to the digital content hosted as a virtual card or cloud card, as a digital virtual representation of a physical card. They share ...

-based technology used on the STI to a

contactless smart card A contactless smart card is a contactless credential whose dimensions are credit-card size. Its embedded integrated circuits can store (and sometimes process) data and communicate with a terminal via NFC. Commonplace uses include transit tickets ...

validation system known as

T-mobilitat T-mobilitat is a contactless smart card automated fare collection used for payment of fares on public transport in the Barcelona metropolitan area sponsored by Generalitat de Catalunya The Generalitat de Catalunya (; oc, label= Aranese, Ge ...

, reducing all the existing ATM cards to one.

Integrated Fare System

The Integrated Fare System ( ca, Sistema Tarifari Integrat, STI) is the fare zone-based ticketing system run by the ATM allowing unified public transport fare integration throughout the

and beyond. The STI consists of six concentric fare zones centered in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, numbered 1–6, which are further divided into sectors lettered A–H. The overall system virtually reaches the entire

province of Barcelona Barcelona (, ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is .Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan language, Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter River, Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in ...

and

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

provinces, serving a total number of 15 ''comarques'' (counties) and 346

, that is a population of over 5.7 million. Although the

Berguedà Berguedà () is an inland comarca (county) in Catalonia, Spain, lying partly in the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees, and partly in the Catalan Central Depression. Geography The northern half of Berguedà, known as Alt Berguedà (“Upper Berguedà� ...

and

Ripollès Ripollès (; es, link=no, Ripollés) is a comarca (county) in Catalonia, Spain. It is located in the Ribes and Camprodon river valleys. In 2001, its population was 25,744, about 40% of whom lived in the capital, Ripoll. Ripollès borders the c ...

''comarques'' were incorporated in the STI on 1 January 2015, they do not appear on official maps because of their distinct operation. The STI uses

-based technology. Bitllet T-10 (ATM Àrea de Barcelona)

Almost all public transport services within the STI are fare-integrated, with the exceptions of tourist-oriented services such as th
Aerobús
express bus to Barcelona–El Prat Airport, the ''

Tramvia Blau The Tramvia Blau (Catalan for "blue tramway") is one of Barcelona's three tram systems. It is a long heritage streetcar line serving a hilly area of the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district between the terminus of FGC Barcelona Metro L7 and the Fun ...

'' or the

Montserrat Rack Railway The Montserrat Rack Railway ( ca, Cremallera de Montserrat, ) is a mountain railway line north-west of Barcelona in Catalonia. The line runs from Monistrol de Montserrat to the mountain-top monastery of Montserrat. The line is long and h ...

and its associated funiculars. All major railway systems in the Barcelona area are fare-integrated, including the

Barcelona Metro The Barcelona Metro (Catalan and Spanish: ) is an extensive network of rapid transit electrified railway lines that run mostly underground in central Barcelona and into the city's suburbs. It is part of the larger public transport sys ...

, the

Trambaix The Trambaix () is one of Barcelona's three tram systems. It is operated by TRAMMET connecting the Baix Llobregat area with the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It opened to the public on 5 April 2004 after a weekend when the tram could be u ...

and

Trambesòs Trambesòs () is a tram– light rail system in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia that links the Barcelona district of Sant Martí with Badalona and Sant Adrià de Besòs. Its name comes from the union of the words "tram", an abbre ...

light rail–tram systems, the

Rodalies de Catalunya Rodalies de Catalunya (, ; "Commuter Rail of Catalonia") is the main commuter and regional rail system in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia. It is administered by the Government of Catalonia and operated by the national rail operato ...

-operated Barcelona commuter rail service, as well as the entire Barcelona–Vallès and Llobegat–Anoia lines. The metro and the light rail–tram systems are entirely within fare zone 1. Nevertheless, there are the following exceptions: * Barcelona Metro: the ''T-10'' multiple-time ticket (see below) is not accepted at the stations serving Barcelona–El Prat Airport— Airport T1 and Airport T2 stations on Barcelona Metro line 9 (L9 Sud). Nevertheless, the rest of fare-integrated cards are valid. * Rodalies de Catalunya: its Barcelona commuter rail service also uses its own fare zone system for use with its non-integrated tickets. Although its fare zones are almost identical to those of the STI, they differ at some locations such as at Barcelona–El Prat Airport, thus creating differences on the prices for the same trip. There are eight basic types of fare-integrated cards—the ''T-10'', ''T-50/30'', ''T-70/30'', ''T-Mes'', ''T-Jove'', ''T-Trimestre'', ''T-Dia'' and ''T-16''—, all of which are multiple-time tickets or unlimited passes allowing free-of-charge interchange between transport modes in 1 hour and 25 minutes within one fare zone (plus 15 minutes for each additional zone). Single tickets are not fare-integrated and thus they do not allow interchange between transport modes or operating companies. All fare-integrated cards are identified with letter T followed by a hyphen ("T-") before a distinct name. There currently exist about 80 types of fare-integrated cards, depending on the number of fare zones permitted to cross, their validity period as well as the existence of fare reductions. Non-personalised fare-integrated cards can be purchased at railway and bus stations, at tram stops, at customer service points of the integrated companies, at

CaixaBank CaixaBank, S.A. (), formerly Criteria CaixaCorp, is a Spanish multinational financial services company. CaixaBank is based in Valencia, with operative offices in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. It is Spain's third-largest lender by market value, ...

cash machine An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fund ...

s, as well as at

newsagent's shop A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand (American and Canadian English Canadian English (CanE, CE, en-CA) encompasses the varieties of English native to Can ...

s and a number of small shops. The eight basic fare-integrated cards have the following features: The regular fare-integrated cards are not valid in the Berguedà and Ripollès ''comarques'' due to the limitations of magnetic stripe-based technology. Dedicated multiple-time tickets can be purchased for use on trips between Berguedà and

Bages Bages () is a comarca (county) in the center of Catalonia, Spain. It includes a ''subcomarca'', Lluçanès. Industries include the mining of potash at Súria and Sallent, and the manufacture of textiles along the rivers Llobregat and Carden ...

, Berguedà and Barcelona, and Ripollès and Barcelona. Fares on such trips are calculated as if these ''comarques'' formed an outer seventh fare zone. A ''T-10'' multiple-time ticket for use within fare zone 1 is also included with the dedicated card. A one- or two-zone ''T-10'' card can be used on trips within each of the ''comarques'', though interchanges between transport modes are not permitted. The fares for each type of card are calculated according to the number of fare zones crossed. Regarding unlimited passes, the first fare zone in which the pass is validated will determine the number of fare zones permitted to cross with that pass. Since fares are updated on 1 January of each year, the multiple-time tickets purchased the previous year expire on 28–29 February (depending on the year), whilst unlimited passes expire on 31 March. The 2017 fares (excluding reduced fares for large and single-parent families, as well as unemployed people) are as follows:

Notes

References

External links

*
T-16. Targeta de transport públic.
Dedicated website with information on the ''T-16'' card. {{DEFAULTSORT:Autoritat del Transport Metropolita Public transport authorities of Catalonia Transport in Alt Penedès Transport in Anoia Transport in Bages Transport in Baix Penedès Transport in Barcelonès Transport in Baix Llobregat Transport in Berguedà Transport in Garraf Transport in Maresme Transport in Moianès Transport in Osona Transport in Ripollès Transport in Selva Transport in Vallès Occidental Transport in Vallès Oriental