Metro Valencia: Don’t Pay €1.30 Like a Sucka!

This will be old news to our readers already living in Valencia, but perhaps not if you’re new or a foreign visitor to the city. It took us 6 weeks of living in here before we realized we shouldn’t be paying €1.30 per ticket. We are complacent, and €1.30 is a cheap fare. We didn’t consider the possibility that you can easily pay less than half that.

So, it’s worth briefly examining the options. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll just consider trips taken within the A zone (city center):

1) Full-Price, One-Way - €1.30 - The Sucka Option
This is what we’ve been buying for the last month! Don’t do it, unless it really makes sense.

2) Return Trip - €2.20 - 15% Savings
There-and-back. It has to be used immediately. Not available at all vending machines (the ones in Colón, for instance) so you might have to ask for it.

3) Bonometro - €6.10 - 53% Savings
The Bonometro card is good for 10 journeys, and is valid forever (or until rates change). Sweet! A similar card called the B-10 offers 10 journeys on the Metro (Zone A), with change-overs to bus, for €7.00.

4) TAT Card - Unlimited Use
The TAT cards offer unlimited use of the Metro and can purchased monthly or yearly. You have to get some sort of MetroValencia ID Card. The price for the monthly card is €60.40 and it’s good for all 4 zones of the metro. That’s expensive, and I can’t imagine it’s worth it unless you’re traveling to Zone D a lot. In that case, the break-even number of trips is 17.

There is a different monthly card, called the Abono Transporte, which is valid for a smaller number of zones. It also allows you to use the bus and MetroBus (whatever that is), and costs €35.60 (for just Zone A).

The yearly card costs €317, and is available for differing numbers of zones. There are also special rates for youths and senior citizens, but we won’t go into that, as such people are too young/old to be reading a blog like this. Go outside and play fútbol/bocci!

5) T-1 - Day Pass
The confusingly named T-1 card lets you take an unlimited number of metro and bus trips during one day. It costs €3.30, so becomes worth it if you plan on taking more than 2 trips.

We don’t take the Metro too often, but from now on will be opting for the bonometro card. €0.61 per trip is tough to beat. Is Valencia’s underground the cheapest in the developed world?

Link: MetroValencia - Description of Tarifs
Link: MetroValencia - Table of Fares
PDF: Network Map

Related posts:

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