Autoritat del Transport Metropolità

Metropolitan Transport Authority
Autoritat del Transport Metropolità
	The house hosting the ATM headquarters in the Barcelona district of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi.
Abbreviation	ATM
Formation	19 March 1997; 27 years ago
Type	Governmental organization
Registration no.	P-5890049-I
Legal status	Public partnership
Purpose	Coordinating operations and projecting expansion of the public transport system in the Barcelona metropolitan area.
Headquarters	315–321 Carrer Muntaner; 08021 Barcelona
Region	Alt Penedès, Anoia, Bages, Baix Penedès (partially), Barcelonès, Baix Llobregat, Berguedà, Garraf, Maresme, Moianès, Osona, Ripollès, Selva (partially), Vallès Occidental and Vallès Oriental comarques.
Owners	Government of Catalonia (51%); Local administrations (49%)—includes the Barcelona City Council, Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB) and Associació de Municipis per la Mobilitat i el Transport Urbà (AMTU);
Chairman	Pere Torres
Budget (2016)	€1,158,356,633.63
Website	atm.cat

The Metropolitan Transport Authority (Catalan: Autoritat del Transport Metropolità, ATM) is a public consortium intended to coordinate the operation and project the expansion of the public transport 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 and Lleida areas, which are also identified as ATM. As of January 2015^[update], the ATM-managed public transport system comprises 50 different operating companies and serves 346 municipalities, accounting for a population of over 5.7 million.^[4]^[5]

Created in 1997, the ATM has since developed an Integrated Fare System (Catalan: 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-based technology used on the STI to a contactless smart card validation system known as T-mobilitat, reducing all the existing ATM cards to one.^[6]

Integrated Fare System

The Integrated Fare System (Catalan: Sistema Tarifari Integrat, 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, 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 provinces, serving a total number of 15 comarques (counties) and 346 municipalities, that is a population of over 5.7 million.^[5]^[7] 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.^[5]^[7]^[8] The STI uses magnetic stripe-based technology.^[6]

A schematic map of the STI fare zone system in 2009. The current system has an additional fare zone 6H, comprising the northern part of the Osona comarca.

Almost all public transport services within the STI are fare-integrated, with the exceptions of tourist-oriented services such as the Aerobús express bus to Barcelona–El Prat Airport, the Tramvia Blau or the Montserrat Rack Railway and its associated funiculars.^[9]^[10] All major railway systems in the Barcelona area are fare-integrated, including the Barcelona Metro, 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.^[10] 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.^[11]
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.^[10]^[12]

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.^[13] 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.^[6] 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 cash machines, as well as at newsagent's shops and a number of small shops.^[14]

The eight basic fare-integrated cards have the following features:^[14]

Card	No. of trips	Validity time	Personalised^[a]	Notes
T-10	10	Until fares update	No	Up to 3 free-of-charge interchanges per trip permitted. Multiple users allowed. Not for use at Airport T1 and Airport T2 stations on Barcelona Metro line 9 (L9 Sud).
T-50/30	50	30 days	No	Up to 3 free-of-charge interchanges per trip permitted. Only one-zone cards available.
T-70/30	70	30 days	No	Up to 3 free-of-charge interchanges per trip permitted. Multiple users allowed.
T-Mes	Unlimited	30 days	Yes
T-Jove	Unlimited	90 days	Yes	Only valid for people aged 25 or younger.
T-Trimestre	Unlimited	90 days	Yes
T-Dia	Unlimited	1 day	No	Only one round trip to Airport T1 and Airport T2 stations on Barcelona Metro line 9 (L9 Sud) permitted.
T-16	Unlimited	Depends on age of card holder (4–16 years old)	Yes	Initial €35 payment, then free of charge. Only one-zone (fare zone of residence) cards available. Known as T-12 prior to 31 December 2016, when it was valid for children aged 4–12.^[15]

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.^[5]^[16] 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.^[16]

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.^[13]

The 2017 fares (excluding reduced fares for large and single-parent families, as well as unemployed people) are as follows:

Basic 2017 fares^[14]
	No. of fare zones crossed^[b]
Card	1	2	3	4	5	6
T-10	€9.95	€19.60	€26.75	€34.45	€39.55	€42.05
T-50/30	€42.50	—	—	—	—	—
T-70/30	€59.50	€86.05	€118.00	€144.50	€165.50	€179.50
T-Mes	€52.75	€71.00	€99.60	€122.00	€140.00	€150.00
T-Trimestre	€142.00	€192.00	€269.00	€329.50	€378.00	€405.00
T-Jove	€105.00	€142.00	€199.20	€244.00	€280.00	€300.00
T-Dia	€8.40	€12.80	€16.05	€17.95	€20.10	€22.50

Notes

^ Personalised cards require carrying along an identity document.^[14]
^ Note that each sector in which each concentric fare zone is divided is counted as a different fare zone. No more than 6 zones can be charged in a single trip.^[14]

References

^ "Autoritat del Transport Metropolità (ATM). Àrea de Barcelona" [Metropolitan Transport Authority. Greater Barcelona.]. Sistema d'Atenció al Ciutadà (SAC) (in Catalan). Government of Catalonia. 25 February 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
^ "L'Autoritat del Transport Metropolità" [The Metropolitan Transport Authority]. ATM (in Catalan). Metropolitan Transport Authority. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
^ "Conveni de constitució de l'entitat Autoritat del Transport Metropolità" [Formation convention of the Metropolitan Transport Authority organization] (PDF). ATM (in Catalan). Metropolitan Transport Authority. 19 March 1997. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
^ "Empreses de transport integrat" [Integrated transport companies]. Sistema de transport (in Catalan). Metropolitan Transport Authority. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Ampliació de l'STI al Berguedà, a Osona i al Ripollès" [STI extension to Berguedà, Osona and Ripollès]. Sistema de transport (in Catalan). Metropolitan Transport Authority. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Territori i Sostenibilitat i l'ATM de Barcelona impulsen la implantació d'un nou sistema tarifari amb validació sense contacte" [The Department of Public Works and Transport and the ATM launch the implementation of a new fare system using contactless validation] (PDF) (Press release). Department of Public Works and Transport. Government of Catalonia.; Metropolitan Transport Authority. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
^ ^a ^b Àmbit geogràfic [Geographic area] (PDF) (Map) (in Catalan). Metropolitan Transport Authority. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
^ Fare zones map (PDF) (Map). Metropolitan Transport Authority. January 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
^ "Aerobús tickets". Aerobús. Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c Integrated Railway Network (PDF) (Map). Metropolitan Transport Authority. August 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
^ A. Grau i Reinés, Josep (12 February 2016). "Anunci de la gamma de títols i les tarifes que han de regir el sistema de transport públic col·lectiu en l'àmbit del sistema tarifari integrat de l'àrea de Barcelona, a partir del dia 12 de febrer de 2016, amb l'entrada en funcionament del tram Zona Universitària-Aeroport T1 de la L9 Sud del metro" [Announcement on the cards and fares due to be permitted for use in the fare-integrated public transport system of the Barcelona metropolitan area, starting on 12 February 2016, together with the start of operations of the Zona Universitària–Airport T1 section of the L9 Sud metro line] (PDF). Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya (DOGC) (in Catalan). Metropolitan Transport Authority. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
^ "Servei de rodalia de Barcelona. Tarifes. Només rodalia" [Barcelona commuter rail service. Fares. Commuter rail-only fares.]. Rodalies de Catalunya (in Catalan). Government of Catalonia. 1 January 2015. Archived from the original on 18 July 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Funcionament del sistema tarifari integrat (STI)" [Usage of the Integrated Fare System (STI)]. Sistema de transport (in Catalan). Metropolitan Transport Authority. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "2017 transport cards and fares" (PDF) (in Catalan). Metropolitan Transport Authority. 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
^ "T-16. Targeta de transport públic" [T-16. Public transport card.]. T-16 (in Catalan). Metropolitan Transport Authority. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Ampliació del Sistema Tarifari Integrat. Berguedà, Osona i Ripollès" [Expansion of the Integrated Fare System. Berguedà, Osona and Ripollès.] (PDF) (in Catalan). Metropolitan Transport Authority; Department of Public Works and Transport. Government of Catalonia. Retrieved 19 July 2016.