Which metro and bus ticket should I buy, and what does it cost?

If you travel most days, buy a T-usual: €22.80 for 30 days of unlimited travel in zone 1. If you travel now and then, buy a T-casual: €13.00 for 10 journeys, which is €1.30 a trip. From 18 journeys in 30 days the T-usual is the cheaper of the two.

These are the 2026 fares, set by the ATM, the metropolitan transport authority, published on 2 Dec 2025 and read from its price page on 9 Sep 2026. They work on metro, bus, tram and local trains alike. They are also held down by a state subsidy under Royal Decree-Law 17/2025: if that subsidy is not renewed, every price on this page rises. Check the current figure before you budget around it, and treat a price a friend quotes from memory as a guess — the ticket names themselves have changed before, when the T-10 became the T-casual and the T-mes became the T-usual.

Does this apply to me

Yes — anyone can buy any of these, and no ticket in the list requires a NIE (Número de Identidad de Extranjero, the foreigner identification number) or a residence permit. Two of them, the T-usual and the T-jove, are personal: the ATM asks for an official, valid identity document in the holder’s name, and a passport is one. Carry it when you travel and make sure the name on the account is yours. The reduced fares depend on age, family status or being out of work, not on nationality.

What it costs, in zone 1

Up to 3 changes inside 75 minutes count as a single journey in zone 1, with 15 minutes added per extra zone, so a metro-then-bus trip is one fare and not two. A single ticket is almost always the worst value. A 2-zone T-usual is €30.55.

Reduced fares — check whether one of these is you

Two things the ATM does not publish about the T-usual bonificada, and both matter: it does not list what you must show to prove you are unemployed, so ask at a T-mobilitat service point before you plan around it; and it publishes no all-zones price for this ticket, unlike the T-jove, so buy it for the zones you actually travel and do not assume it stretches further. The bonificada can only be loaded onto a personalised plastic card, so for this one ticket the €4.50 card is not optional.

You also need a card to put the ticket on

The cheapest way in and out of the airport is €1.30

The T-casual is refused at Aeroport T1 and Aeroport T2 on metro line L9 Sud, which is why people believe the airport costs €5.90. It does not have to. Every integrated card is valid on the R2 Nord train from Terminal 2 and on bus 46, so with an ordinary ticket the airport is one ordinary journey at €1.30. The T-usual, T-jove and T-usual bonificada are accepted on the L9 Sud airport stations as well.

If you commute from outside Barcelona, price the train separately

Rodalies sells a monthly pass at €20 for unlimited travel across all zones, which beats a 3-zone T-usual at €42.70, and it is free for children born in 2012 or later. If your journey is a train journey, check that before you buy a multi-zone ticket.

What to bring

To buy online or at a service point for a personalised card, your identity document and a photograph. For the T-usual and the T-jove you must carry that same document whenever you travel. For a child’s T-16, apply through the T-mobilitat website.

Where to go, and how to book

Buy or top up on the TMB app, at any ticket machine in the metro, or at an official sales point. No appointment, and the machines take cards. Get a personalised card at t-mobilitat.cat or at a network service point. Route planning and live service updates are at tmb.cat.

How long it takes

Buying at a machine is immediate. A phone card works straight away. A personalised plastic card is ordered online or at a service point and posted to you.

What happens next

A T-usual or T-casual starts counting from your first validation, not from the day you buy it, so you can buy it in advance and start it when you need it.

What goes wrong

• Almost every journey inside Barcelona is one zone, but if you commute in from a town outside the city, check the zoning map first: travelling on the wrong ticket is a fine, not a top-up.
• A T-usual or T-jove used by anyone but the person named on it can be confiscated, so do not lend them.
• Buying single tickets every day is the quiet, expensive mistake: twenty working days of two trips is €116 on singles against €22.80 on a T-usual.

Useful words

Read next

• I have just arrived in Barcelona. What do I do first? — the order to do things in.
• How do I register on the padrón? Do I need papers? — the municipality you register in decides your fare zone.
• What is 010, and what can it actually do for me? — the free line for any council address you are travelling to.

Official source

ATM, “Títols de transport integrats i preus”, at atm.cat, for every fare above; each ticket also has its own page with its conditions. TMB publishes route planning and live service updates at tmb.cat.