canary islands abono unico transport concerns

Canary Islands left out of new national travel pass scheme

Compiled with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Spanish-language information. Source below the article.

Canary Islands left out of new national travel pass scheme

The Canary Islands government believes the state-approved programme to promote public transport through a single pass system, known as the Abono Único, “leaves out” the archipelago under its current conditions. The single pass would allow travellers to use one ticket across the various transport networks that join the programme, with the aim of making journeys across the country easier without having to buy a different card for each region.

Concerns raised with Madrid

The regional government’s Directorate General for Transport and Mobility has sent a communication to the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility to voice its “doubts and concerns” and demand clarity on how the programme could be applied in the Islands.

María Fernández, the Director General for Transport and Mobility, argues that under the model published this Tuesday in the Official State Gazette (BOE), “the Canary Islands cannot join because of its unique distribution of powers”. The regional government considers that the programme, as currently conceived, does not allow for the participation of the Bono Residente Canario (the Canary Islands resident discount pass), and is demanding that the role corresponding to the Canary Islands within the system be determined.

Fernández points out that the archipelago’s situation is especially complex because transport powers are shared between different administrations (the regional government, island councils and town halls). She is highly critical of the initial design of the measure: “This publication is very worrying for the Canary Islands because it seems that once again the Spanish Government has not taken into account the Canary Islands’ unique nature and reality.” She warns emphatically that, following analysis by regional technicians, “the Canary Islands would be completely excluded from the single pass system”.

Funding questions remain unanswered

Among the key issues the Canary Islands is demanding clarity on is the programme’s funding. The regional government wants to know the conditions and compensation mechanisms for participating administrations and operators, as well as how those compensations would be calculated and settled. The measure leaves the details of that framework unresolved, an issue the Canary Islands considers essential before contemplating any voluntary incorporation into the system.

Fernández insists that a programme of this nature should offer “legal certainty and economic guarantees” to participating administrations and operators, particularly given the possibility that passengers from other territories could use integrated passes under the Abono Único while in the Canary Islands.

The Canary Islands government is also asking for clarification on how responsibilities would be shared between the various administrations and operators, in areas such as system management, enforcement of usage conditions, inspections and the sanctioning regime. Fernández believes these issues must be defined before progressing with a model that directly affects transport systems already operating in the Islands.

Previous offer of pilot scheme

The Canary Islands has reminded Madrid that it had already offered its cooperation in developing the national Abono Único. On 8 May 2025, María Fernández conveyed the archipelago’s willingness to become a pilot territory for implementing the national single transport pass. The proposal suggested taking advantage of work already underway in the Islands, with the participation of the Canary Islands Institute of Technology (ITC), to explore integration between the state system and the future Canary Islands single pass, as well as working towards an interoperable system.

The regional government believes that experience would allow the technological work being developed in the Islands to contribute to the national project, and would ensure the particularities of Canarian transport are taken into account from the outset.

Lack of prior consultation

These demands come on top of the lack of prior information about the programme’s publication and conditions. Fernández notes that at the last Sectoral Transport Conference, regions were not informed that the programme would be published in these terms in the BOE, nor were the specific conditions now set out in the document discussed.

The Canary Islands government believes that an initiative affecting the transport systems of different administrations requires institutional coordination and prior dialogue, especially where transport models and fare systems have already been developed in different territories.

Willing to negotiate

Despite the objections raised, the Canary Islands government maintains its willingness to work with the Ministry to resolve the doubts and find a formula that allows progress towards interoperability of transport passes. Fernández has insisted that “the goal of making it easier for citizens to get around is shared”, but has argued that to make it a reality in the Canary Islands, it is necessary to take into account “its unique nature and the particular distribution of powers that exists in transport matters”.

What the new programme says

The BOE published the order approving the Programme for promoting public transport through an Abono Único system this Tuesday. The measure establishes a system of mutual recognition of transport passes and states that participation by administrations other than the General State Administration will be voluntary.

The order allows for the participation of regional governments, local authorities and supramunicipal local entities. The latter includes provincial councils, island councils (cabildos) and other similar bodies. Public transport consortiums and management bodies for urban and metropolitan transport may also take part.

Participation must be formalised through accession agreements, which will set out the services included, operators, passes associated with the Abono Único, sales channels, and financial and compensation arrangements. The programme also states that participating transport authorities will assume the commitments arising from their accession.

As for operators, the measure provides for their participation in the recognition and use of passes integrated into the system and requires the adaptation of technical systems for payment, validation, registration and information.

Financial framework and pass details

On the financial side, the Ministry of Transport will provide a common technological platform to harmonise ticket validation and will establish a framework for financing and economic compensation to mitigate potential financial losses or additional operating costs for participating entities. The door is also left open to incorporating metropolitan maritime transport in the future.

However, the order itself leaves the details of that framework, and the mechanisms for calculating and settling compensations, to be defined later. The programme, which is of a merely programmatic nature, structures two types of personalised passes valid for 30 days: a general pass with a single fare accessible to any user, and a pass for children and young people up to and including 26 years of age, strictly reserved for Spanish nationals or foreigners with legal residence in the country.

Regarding coverage and management, the system initially integrates state-subsidised bus concessions and Renfe’s Cercanías, Rodalies and Media Distancia rail services (excluding commercial high-speed services, with the exception of specific Avant routes).

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