On June 1st 2026, the underground system in the Spanish capital will have a new tap-to-pay ticket system added to the turnstiles so that commuters don’t have to queue to pay for their journeys at the separate ticket machines.
Madrid Metro users will have the option of using their debit/credit cards or mobile banking apps directly at the glass-door turnstiles in order to pay for their journeys.
The system recognises both physical and virtual cards, so payment can be made via mobile phones, smartwatches, and other devices with a pre-configured card.
This offers a faster alternative to buying single tickets or recharging their cards with extra journeys at the ticket machines or counters at the main lobbies of Madrid’s 302 metro stations, as they will only have to tap to pay at the turnstiles.
This payment system is already on most of Madrid’s municipal bus network, and given its success it has been progressively introduced into the metro network over the past two years.
“This measure will make it a little bit easier for users,” Madrid government spokesperson Miguel Angel García told journalists about the €6 million software improvement.
The June 1st launch date means that the functionality will be fully operational for the visit of Pope Leo XIV to the Spanish capital , which begins on Saturday June 6th and will attract thousands of pilgrims and visitors who will be able to benefit from this new feature.
The new payment system is also expected to improve the flow of travellers at some of the city’s busiest metro stations such as Sol or Callao.
Approximately 900 turnstiles will have the new payment option available.
The software will also include BackOffice, a system that stores information about the trip validations that a user makes in a certain period of time to “calculate the best rate to apply” and “group the charges into a single transaction”.
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