By the end of 2023, L’Autoritat Metropolitana del Transport, ATM, will replace the rechargeable cardboard tickets of the Barcelona metro with digital cards that seek a more modern and sustainable operation.
The magnetic switch-off (end of the cardboard cards) will be gradual in order to say goodbye to them for good.
When the cardboard cards are no longer sold, they will be valid for three more months so that the full balance can be spent. In this way, cardboard tickets will coexist with the new T-Mobilitat, while they expire completely.
These three months will be a test period to verify that this transition works. When this is achieved immediately, the definitive change will be made as expressed by the MTA.
The Authority also made it clear that it will notify the public in a timely manner when cardboard tickets will no longer be sold.
At the end of the three months following the suspension of the sale, the carton cards will expire definitively.
Incorporation of digital cards
To date, few people have the T-Mobilitat.
In fact, the ATM indicated that payments with the new digital card have so far reached 160,000 trips per day throughout Catalonia.
On average per day only about 800 people start using the digital card.
The transportation authority’s call is not to wait until the end and to try to avoid saturation of the system.
Ideally, the transition should be phased and gradual to avoid a collapse.
