“This new fare system is of considerable strategic importance in the definition of inland passenger transport in the Azores - particularly on the island of São Miguel – but it is mainly a far-reaching social reform.”
This is how the President of the Government of the Azores described the Social Pass for public transport on the island of S. Miguel which was presented at the Ribeira Grande Bus Station on Friday morning.  In addition to introducing new concepts in the fare system, the new Pass also includes substantial discounts on all routes.

Stressing the impact of these discounts on household economies, Carlos César revealed that, for example, the Social Pass will not allow unlimited trips to a user that uses the route Ponta Delgada-Nordeste, but also a saving of nearly one thousand Euros per year, whilst the users of the route Ponta Delgada-Vila Franca will save six hundred Euros.

For the President of the Government, this is the result of the creativity, the effort undertaken by the Government, which will invest just over a million Euros in the entire system as, he stressed, “the important is to think, to innovate because sometimes with financial amount which are not disproportionate, we are able to introduce benefits among families and people in general, which are quite significant for their economy.”
Carlos César announced that the new social pass will enter into force on February 1 on the island of São Miguel – which registers an annual average of six million passengers – and added that this measure will be soon extended to other islands. He also stressed that this measure, in addition to reducing fares, also aims to encourage people to use public transport instead of private transport. 

The new social pass, which was created after conducting extensive studies that included fourteen thousand surveys and the hearing of various entities, from Village Councils to Municipalities and the citizens using public transport, estimates a discount policy for social passes which is proportionately calculated in accordance with the distance covered, that is, greater distances correspond to greater discounts.
Thus, the maximum amount of the monthly pass will be set at 60 Euros for the longest route Ponta Delgada – Nordeste, which corresponds to a reduction of 57 percent as the current fare is set at 138.91 Euros.

For the areas of Ribeira Grande/Vila Franca and the remaining areas of similar distance (Santo António, Capelas and Candelária), the pass will be set at 45 Euros, an amount lower than the current fare, which is set at 69.61 Euros.

The 30 percent discount addressed at the users from the outskirts of Ponta Delgada will remain in force and they will also benefit from unlimited trips for monthly passes. So far, theses passes had a limited number of trips, which will no longer have with the introduction of the new social passes.
Furthermore, these measures also include the implementation of a new social pass, the “Unemployed Pass,” which is identical to the “30-day Pass,” and it is addressed at the unemployed who are registered at the Employment Centre. It will have a cost corresponding to 75 percent of the “30-day Pass,” thus its recipients will not only benefit from the discount granted by this pass, but also of a additional benefit of 25 percent. The same rules apply to the “Senior, Pensioner and Disability Pass” which have been merged in this new version.
The Government of the Azores has decided to maintain some of the existing benefits, such as the half fare for children aged between 4 and 11; the 10 percent discount for “pre-purchased tickets,” i.e. tickets purchased in advance of their use, generally sold in sets of 10, will remain in force; the board ticket for the Seniors, Pensioners and Disabled people will also maintain the 50 percent discount; and the “Weekly Pass” (Senior/Disability/Pensioners), purchased in advance of their use and calculated based on an average of ten trips, also benefits from a 50 percent discount over the regular On-Board Ticket. 
It should be noted that “On-Board Tickets” in the Azores are lower than Mainland Portugal. The minimum amount in the Azores is set at 0.74 Euros – from 0 to 5 km – while in Mainland Portugal, on-board tickets up to 2 km are set at 0.80 Euros (or at 1.90 Euros when vehicles are equipped with automated ticketing machines).