The Metropolitan Transport Authority (, ATM) is a public consortium intended to coordinate the operation and project the expansion of the
public transport
Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...
system in the
Barcelona metropolitan area. It is made up of the
Government of Catalonia 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,
Camp de Tarragona
Camp de Tarragona () is a Natural region, natural and historical region, as well as one of the nine Vegueries of Catalonia, regions (''vegueries'') of Catalonia. It is the third most populated region, with 536,453 inhabitants as of 2022.
The re ...
and
Lleida
Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...
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 municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
, accounting for a population of over 5.7 million.
Created in 1997, the ATM has since developed an
Integrated Fare System (, 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-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 ticket ...
validation system known as
T-mobilitat, reducing all the existing ATM cards to one.
Integrated Fare System
The Integrated Fare System (, STI) is the fare zone-based ticketing system run by the ATM allowing unified public transport fare integration throughout the
Barcelona metropolitan area and beyond. The STI consists of six concentric fare zones centered in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...
, numbered 1–6, which are further divided into sectors lettered A–H. The overall system virtually reaches the entire
province of Barcelona, as well as adjacent parts of the
Girona and
Tarragona
Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...
provinces, serving a total number of 15
''comarques'' (counties) and 346
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
, that is a population of over 5.7 million.
Although the
Berguedà and
Ripollès ''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
magnetic stripe-based technology.
Almost all public transport services within the STI are fare-integrated, with the exceptions of tourist-oriented services such as th
Aerobúsexpress bus to
Barcelona–El Prat Airport, the ''
Tramvia Blau
The Tramvia Blau () 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 Funicular del Tibidabo.
Th ...
'' or the
Montserrat Rack Railway and its associated funiculars.
All major railway systems in the Barcelona area are fare-integrated, including the
Barcelona Metro
The Barcelona Metro (Catalan language, Catalan and Spanish language, Spanish: ) is a rapid transit network that runs mostly underground in central Barcelona and into the city's suburbs. It is part of the larger public transport system ...
, the
Trambaix and
Trambesòs light rail–tram systems, the
Rodalies de Catalunya-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 Barcelona and Madrid. It is Spain's third-largest lender by market value, after Ban ...
cash machines, 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) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of loca ...
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, 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