Mid-short distance train journeys in Spain free as of September

Gracias Carlos. We saw that on the French FB groups. Bravo. From what I can tell, this does not apply to a one time local ticket, for example Portbou to Barcelona, but it does apply for an employee taking that train several times a week to get to work. Could you please explain.

In France, we got an email yesterday for the local trains in Occitanie, which is on the border with Spain. On our side of the border, it's some sort of scheme for seniors using an app. Every time we take the train we log in to get larger and larger discounts for subsequent local trips. It's guaranteed to confuse my generation if our grandkids can't help us. Anyway, it's nice to be getting breaks.

Yes subsidizing public transport is always a good move :)

Here's what more info I could find (roughly translated):

The free travel will apply to a total of six types of medium-distance multi-trip tickets and the
10-trip Cercanías and Rodalies train pass, which lasts 30 days and can be used by several
people.

The six Media Distancia service vouchers that will become free are: Regional 10 Voucher,
Simple 10 Card, Free 10 Card, Regional Monthly Pass, Simple 40 Monthly Card and Free 40
Monthly Card.

Unfortunately, single tickets aren’t included in the discount and several other transport
vouchers are also ruled out, such as Madrid’s multi-use pass which allows passengers to
travel on Metro, Cercanías and EMT buses.

AVE vouchers are also excluded.

In short, most of you (visitors), due to the nature of your usage of public transportation when on holiday, won't be able to benefit, so don't get your hopes too high.

From what I've read the Media Distancia routes have a good shot a being beneficial to tourists.

"According to Renfe itself, its medium-distance service covers regional routes between the provinces of the same autonomous community or a contiguous autonomous community . That is to say, all those trains in which the average journey of the passenger exceeds 60 kilometers and does not exceed 300 kilometers.

Of course, there are currently some exceptions to this general rule , since some longer routes, such as those that connect Madrid with Cantabria, Valencia or Andalusia, are also considered medium distance. In other words, from Madrid one could travel with a free subscription to practically the entire Spanish geography , except for some autonomous communities such as Galicia, Catalonia or Asturias."

...but, as initially* mentioned, it has to be a multi-trip ticket (10 journeys) or a monthly pass... which are of no use to most visitors -unless parties of five or more-, right?

(*) I say "initially", because the Spanish gov is notoriously inconsistent with its announcements so the information might still change.

Yes, when I read the headline, I was excited, as I will be in Spain all of September, and a number of trains...then read the article.

But no worries, it is for residents, and good for them, especially those that need to commute each day.

Now hopefully, half of Spain does not decide to pack the rail lines, leading to crowding and sold out trains, like a free day at museums.

Do you have to be a Spanish resident to purchase a multi journey ticket? I'm wondering if someone could just get a free multi journey ticket and only use it once rather than paying for a single ticket?

It appears you don't have to be a Spanish resident. So theoretically yes a tourist could get multi trip ticket. This was only recently announced so they are probably still working out the fine details.