Ten euros a month, every zone from A to E2, no surcharge for distance. The Abono Joven run by the Consorcio Regional de Transportes de Madrid is the cheapest transport pass in Spain, and the reason most people reading about it cannot buy one is not their age. It runs on residency, so a student registered at a Madrid address qualifies while a visitor of the same age does not. The other conditions are being between 15 and the day you turn 26, and holding a €4.00 personal card.
Who can buy Madrid’s Abono Joven youth pass? Anyone aged 15 up to the day they turn 26 who lives in the Comunidad de Madrid or in a listed municipality of Castilla-La Mancha or Castilla y León. It costs €10 a month for all zones A to E2, and loads onto a €4.00 personal card requiring an appointment. Large-family status waives the residency test.
The Abono Joven is the 30-day season ticket that Madrid’s transport consortium reserves for young people registered inside its area, on a flat fare covering the whole network regardless of zone. Its current price depends on a 50 per cent regional subsidy, and without that subsidy the title costs €20.
What an arriving student actually has to do
This is the case worth planning around, because the paperwork has a lead time and the academic year does not wait for it.
Residency, not nationality, is what the consortium checks, so an Erasmus or degree student living at a Madrid address is inside the scheme. The pass loads onto the Tarjeta Transporte Público Personal, which costs €4.00 to issue. Applying online sends it to a home address in roughly a week; applying in person needs an appointment for a first application. Anyone wanting the pass live on 1 September should start in August.
Until it arrives, the fallback is the anonymous card and ordinary tickets, set out in the Madrid transport card explained.
Why the €10 reaches further than any other ticket
The figure that makes this pass unusual is not the price but the coverage, and it breaks the logic the rest of the system runs on.
Every other season ticket is priced by zone, from €32.70 in zone A upward. The Abono Joven charges €10 for all of them, A to E2, which puts towns in neighbouring provinces inside the same monthly fare as a trip across the city centre. How the zone map works everywhere else is in how Madrid’s transport zones work.
| Requirement | Abono Joven | 30-day Abono Transporte |
|---|---|---|
| Residency test | Yes | Yes |
| Card required | Personal, €4.00 | Personal, €4.00 |
| Zones covered | All, A to E2 | Only the zone bought |
| Price in zone A | €10.00 | €32.70 |
| Age | 15 to the day you turn 26 | 26 to 64 |
The age limit falls on a date, not a month
Nothing rounds in the holder’s favour here, which is worth knowing before buying a title that straddles a birthday.
Entitlement starts at 15 and runs until the day you turn 26. Not the end of that month, not the end of the year, and not the end of the 30-day period already paid for. Someone turning 26 on the 12th loses the right on the 12th.
Below the range the picture changes shape rather than price. The Comunidad de Madrid gives free travel to under-14s and to over-65s, so the Abono Joven covers exactly the gap left between two free brackets.
The one exemption from the residency test
There is a single way past the address requirement, and it does not appear in any of the headline messaging.
Holders of Spanish large-family status are not required to prove residency to obtain the personal transport card. Everything else stands, including the €4.00 issue cost and the age bracket.
How long the €10 lasts
The price is political rather than commercial, which matters for a course that runs across the end of next year.
The current fare rests on a 50 per cent subsidy that the Comunidad de Madrid extended to 31 December 2026, alongside a 40 per cent cut on the 26-to-64 season tickets. Without it the Abono Joven returns to €20, covered with the rest of the fare table in Madrid public transport tickets explained.
What to buy if you do not qualify
Without residency the system still works, just at a higher price per journey, and the right choice depends on volume.
A metro single is €1.50 to €2.00 and an EMT bus fare €1.50, set out in what a Madrid metro ticket costs. For a short stay the alternative is the tourist pass, weighed in whether the Madrid tourist travel pass is worth it, and arrivals from Barajas need the separate €3.00 supplement described in the Madrid airport metro supplement.
Frequently asked questions about the Abono Joven
Can a foreign student get the Madrid Abono Joven?
Yes, if they live in the region. The requirement is residency rather than nationality, so an exchange or degree student registered at a Madrid address qualifies on the same terms as anyone else aged from 15 to the day they turn 26.
Can a tourist buy the Abono Joven?
No. It is a personal title that loads only onto the personal transport card, and that card requires residency in the Madrid region or in one of the listed municipalities of Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León. A short-stay visitor cannot meet it.
What does the Abono Joven cost and where is it valid?
It costs €10 a month and covers every fare zone from A to E2, with no increase for distance. That makes it the only Madrid title that ignores the zone map entirely, reaching towns well outside the region on the same €10.
How long does the personal transport card take to arrive?
Applying online, the card reaches a home address in roughly a week, so anyone starting a course in September should apply in August. Applying in person at a consortium office is quicker but needs an appointment for a first application.
How long will €10 a month last?
The price rests on a 50 per cent subsidy that the Comunidad de Madrid has extended to 31 December 2026. Without it the Abono Joven returns to €20 a month, so a full academic year straddling that date will not stay at one price.
The test is where you live, which is why the answer changes the week you register an address here.