Terms of use of tickets

Children under four are exempt from having a transport ticket. All other passengers need to have a valid, correct and paid ticket.

Make sure that the ticket is correct for your personal details and that it is valid for the zones where you wish to travel.

You should also validate the ticket before starting the journey and in all transfers you make, unless they are direct changes between metro lines. To help you identify whether the ticket has been correctly validated, the bus validating machines display a green light and emit a soft sound. On the other hand, when the ticket has not been validated, they display a red light and emit a loud sound. On the metro, the validating machines will not let you through the barrier if there is an error in validation. If your pass does not work as a result of a fault of the validating machines, contact a member of bus or metro staff, who will change it. Damaged cards for other causes will not give you the right to compensation nor to change it.

Finally, make sure that you keep the correctly validated ticket in good condition until the end of your journey. You should not throw it away until leaving the station, as you may be asked to show it by a member of staff.

If you need more detailed information on transport tickets or passes, go to the section “Metro and bus fares”.

The Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM) and the Metropolitan Area of ??Barcelona (AMB) establish the maximum temporal validity of tickets purchased during each year.

Expiration date of purchased tickets in 2022

T-casual purchased in 2022 expired on January 15, 2023 and the other tickets purchased during 2022 expire on December 31, 2023 if they do not have a specific expiry date. The T-16 and T-verda can be used until its own expiration date in both cases.

Expiration date of purchased tickets in 2023

Tickets purchased in 2023 are valid until January 15, 2024, except for the T-jove in cardboard, the T-16 and the T-verda (free transport) cards. The T-jove in cardboard format can be used, at most, until 31 December 2023. The T-16 and the T-verda cards have their own expiration dates.

Monthly validity

Passes with monthly validity allow you to travel for 30 days from the first validation.

The 30 days are calculated taking into consideration the entire day of the first validation, plus the following 29 days. The pass is therefore valid until the service closes on the last day. If the metro service closes after midnight on the last day, it will be valid until 3.59 h of the following day.

Quarterly validity

Passes with quarterly validity allow you to travel for 90 days from the first validation.

The 90 days are calculated taking into consideration the entire day of the first validation, plus the following 89 days. The pass is therefore valid until the service closes on the last day. If the metro service closes after midnight on the last day, it will be valid until 3.59 h of the following day.

With an integrated pass (not a single ticket), you can transfer up to 3 times to other integrated means of transport, over a certain period of time, set by the number of zones of the card. For single-zone passes, the time limit is 75 minutes from the first validation. This time limit increases by 15 minutes for each additional zone.

Please bear in mind that a return journey or resuming your journey after interrupting it is considered as two journeys. Therefore, fare integration does not allow you to validate your ticket twice within the same journey on the Barcelona metro (or the FGC line), nor two consecutive bus validations on the same route.

Apart from travel on which the metropolitan fare is applied, you can calculate the number of zones of the pass you need with the information about how the integrated tariff system works at the ATM website.

6-zone passes allow you to travel between all municipalities of the metropolitan transport area of Barcelona. You can see which they are on the map of zones.

See all the information abou metropolitan fare the metropolitan fare.

In the metro, your validated ticket or pass is valid for the following two hours.

On the bus, the validation gives the right to travel to the end of the route in the chosen direction (except on the Bus del Barri neighborhood routes and other circular lines, in which case you can complete the entire circuit).

Single-person tickets (such as the T-casual) cannot be used simultaneously by more than one person, but it can be used by different people at different times. For example you can use the pass in the morning and anyone you give it to can use it in the afternoon.

Multi-person tickets can be used with your companions, as long as you travel together. To correctly share a multi-person pass (such as the T-grup and the T-familiar), the number of validations must match the number of people traveling together. On the metro, you should stay together for the whole journey, from the entry point station until leaving the metro premises. On buses, you may separate once on board, but the person carrying the pass must be the last one to get off the bus.

Personalised tickets can only be used by the named holder of the card. On the front of these passes, your ID number or an equivalent document number should be indicated. You should identify yourself with the documents required whenever you are asked to show the pass. Otherwise, it is deemed that you do not have a valid transport ticket and it may be withdrawn. The most common personalised passes are the T-16, the T-jove and the T-usual.

Personalised passes of single-parent or large families (FM/FN), are special cases, because apart from the ID or equivalent of the holder, these passes should also be accompanied by the original, valid single-parent or large family card (which should be shown when a staff member requests it).

How to get a simplified invoice

The metro ticket machines issue a simplified invoice for every purchase.

If you have purchased and validated a ticket with a contactless bank card on the bus and you need a simplified or full invoice, you must register as a user on the Bus ticket website and record the payment cards you used. You will then be able to download a simplified invoice for every purchase made with each bank card.

Simplified invoices for purchases at metro station ticket machines and purchases validated with a bank card allow you to request full invoices.

You can download the simplified invoice and the full invoice (after entering your tax details) for purchases made using TMB Tickets and TMB App from the time of purchase and as long as the JoTMBé user is the same for each transaction.

How to get a full invoice

You can request a full invoice for tickets and travel cards purchased at metro ticket machines after 1 January 2019 or for single bus tickets purchased and validated with a contactless bank card by sending an email to clientstmb@tmb.cat. You must enter your tax details (name of the person or company, DNI/NIE/NIF/CIF and tax address) and attach the scanned simplified invoices or the scanned tickets. All data must be visible and scanned correctly.

If you bought the travel card through TMB Tickets or TMB App, you can request a full invoice at the time of purchase or later (up to the time limit established by current legislation) as long as you maintain the JoTMBé account you used to purchase the travel card.

For all other cases, go to a Punt TMB with a previous appointment. You must provide all tax details (name of the person or company, DNI/NIE NIF/CIF and tax address) and the travel cards to be invoiced.

You can request the exchange of your ticket or travel card in the following situations:

• If the TMB metro or bus validators cannot read the magnetic stripe on the ticket or travel card, despite it being kept in good condition. In this case, you must present your ticket or travel card and you will receive another with the same characteristics: same ticket, number of zones and journeys or remaining days of validity. You can request an exchange from bus and metro staff as soon as you realise your ticket is not working properly. If it is a personalised ticket, and therefore non-transferable, you will need to show the original DNI, NIE or passport to prove the ticket belongs to you.
• If the fares change and you have not validated the ticket or travel card even once, you can request an equivalent ticket or travel card for the new fare and hand over the ticket for the previous fare within the maximum period established by the Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM). For T-casual purchased during 2022, the exchange period was from 1 January to 31 March 2023. You can not exchange the other tickets purchased in 2022 because, in 2023, they maintain 2022 fares and bonuses. In general, if the new ticket or travel card is more expensive than the old one, you must pay the difference. If it is cheaper, however, the price difference will not be refunded. This type of exchange can only be requested at Punts TMB.
• If you have purchased a travel card through a TMB sales channel and it is not what you wanted and you have not used it, it can be exchanged for another same-priced card with the features that suit you at Punts TMB as long as the ticket you want to exchange is still valid.

In general, a refund can be issued for any transport ticket as long as that ticket has not been validated and is within the period indicated in the terms and conditions for the refund of transport tickets.

What is the return period?

All integrated ATM tickets, as well as any single metro ticket and the single airport ticket, can be returned within 24 hours from the time of purchase (regardless of whether they are tickets with a magnetic strip or T-mobilitat tickets). This applies both to online purchases and purchases made via face-to-face channels such as metro vending machines, Punts TMB or T-mobilitat Kiosks

Refunds cannot be issued for single bus tickets validated by bank card, as the purchase and validation are formalised on the spot. For more information, please see the Conditions of purchase and validation of the single bus ticket with bank card.

For more information of the purchase of Hola Barcelona Travel Card passes or other tourist tickets purchased on holabarcelona.com website or the Hola Barcelona app, check general conditions of online contracting.

How can a refound be obtained?

If you purchased your ticket(s) online from TMB, you can request your refund by accessing the purchase history on the website or TMB App and selecting the ‘refund’ option for the order you want to return.

If you purchased your tickets in person, from a ticket machine, Punt TMB or T-mobilitat Kiosk, you can go to a Punt TMB to request your refund, taking with you the transport ticket you want to return and the purchase receipt.

If you purchased your ticket(s) online through the holabarcelona.com website or the Hola Barcelona app, see how to return your ticket at Hola Barcelona FAQ.