Madrid will start 2026 with two days of free urban transport. Travel on EMT buses and Bicimad will cost nothing on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 January, coinciding with the return to school and work after the Christmas vacations. The City Council thus repeats a formula it has already used on other occasions at times of high demand to encourage people to leave their cars at home and reduce traffic jams in one of the busiest weeks of the year.
For 48 hours, all EMT municipal buses will be free, with one exception: the Airport Express line will continue to charge its usual fare.
The free service will be active from 00:00 on Thursday 8 until 23:59 on Friday 9 January. As on previous occasions, it will be compulsory to validate the transport ticket, those who do not have a pass or ticket may ask the driver for a free single ticket. This policy has already been applied in 72 days grouped in 29 periods since 2021, with more than 79.4 million free trips, of which 15 .25 million corresponded to non-users of the bus, according to data provided by the City Council of Madrid.
Bicimad also joins the free ride system
The less cold ones will also be able to take advantage of the sixth time that the public electric bicycle system bicimad joins these special days. All journeys of up to 30 minutes will be free for subscribers and users during January 8 and 9.
The City Council’s objective with this measure is to consolidate the public bicycle as a real alternative to the car in daily commuting, especially in short trips from neighborhood to neighborhood or from neighborhood to downtown.
Why Madrid repeats this measure
The City Council stresses that these free days have become one of the most effective tools to encourage the use of public transport, especially among those who do not use it on a daily basis. They are scheduled on days of high demand (back to school, back from Easter, Black Friday) or in episodes of high pollution to reduce private traffic and emissions.
In 2025 alone there were seven periods (12 days) of free buses, with more than 2.7 million beneficiaries; the record was reached on November 28 (Black Friday), with almost 1.94 million travelers in a single day.
For this first weekend after Epiphany, the measure also works as a “push” to recover the routine by betting on the bus and the bike instead of the car, just at the time when schools, offices and much of the daily activity in the capital are reactivated.