Óscar Puente defends Renfe’s new punctuality commitment: "It is no longer as easy to comply as it used to be."

He assures that the new bus map does not please the communities because they will not stop in each town, which is their responsibility.

June 26 () –

The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, has defended the cut made in Renfe’s punctuality commitment, ensuring that it is currently not as easy to comply as when it was first approved in 1992, in a scenario of single high-speed line throughout the country and without competition from other companies.

During his speech at the ‘V Symposium of the Mobility and Cities Observatory’ of El Español and Invertia, the minister highlighted that, even so, Renfe will continue to offer the best commitment to punctuality of the three companies that operate in Spain, to the refund up to 200% of the amount for delays greater than 90 minutes if the refund option in Renfecitos points is chosen.

“Renfe’s commitment to punctuality dates back to 1992, when we had a single high-speed line, with six trains a day. It was very easy to comply with punctuality then. Today we are moving 120,000 travelers on Renfe alone on peak days. In a scenario of three competitors, this commitment to punctuality is not as easy to fulfill as in 1992. Above all, taking into account that our competitors do not have that commitment, but rather the minimum that the law requires,” he argued.

Puente has estimated the cost last year of complying with the previous punctuality commitment (returns with only 15 minutes delay) at 42 million euros, which explains why the Government has made this decision to “adapt to the times.”

On the other hand, the minister has also referred to the new map of bus routes that the Government is preparing, ensuring that the autonomous communities “do not at all like the fact that we are going to bet on more competitive lines, which will mean that “It’s not going to stop in every little town, that being the responsibility of the communities.”

“The Ministry has to communicate Madrid with Extremadura, Extremadura with Galicia, Valencia with Catalonia, not the towns of Valencia within Valencia or the towns of Extremadura within Extremadura. That is a responsibility of the autonomous communities, although we are aware that they need help and that is why we have enabled an important item to help them with this new concession map that I believe is urgent and necessary,” he justified.