New T-mobilitat paper transport card to be available by end of year

The T-mobilitat transport card will be available in a paper format with a chip by the end of the year for users of the T-usual, T-casual, Family, and group card. 

The paper card will cost €0.50 and will have to be purchased just once as it will be rechargeable. 

The difference between the plastic T-mobilitat card and the paper one is that the paper card will be anonymous and users will not have to identify themselves, with the exception of the T-usual where the ID number will be printed. 

The paper version of the T-mobilitat is made for "sporadic users" who do not have the app or the plastic card, Pere Torres, the director of Barcelona's metropolitan area transport authority, explained.

Another new addition is that paper cards will no longer need to be introduced through the card slot at the station barriers, as they can be read magnetically, similar to the plastic cards and app.

The new cards will be available through the same machines as paper cards. However, Pere Torres has not explained when they will start being rolled out.

When the change occurs, old metro cards will be able to be used until January 15, the last day that cards from the previous years can be used.

The paper T-mobilitat can not be used with T-jove (users aged 16 to 29) or T-16 (users 16 or younger), large families, and single-parent families, as they are the only travel card plans that require identification.

Another difference between plastic and paper cards is that if the card is lost or stolen, users of the paper format will not be able to cancel it and recover the pending journeys, as that is only available for registered users.