The Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing announced today the approval, by the Council of Ministers, of the new Social Mobility Allowance for regular travel between the mainland and inter-island connections.
“This decree-law creates a uniform and single legal regime, with a view to simplification, efficiency and equal treatment between the Autonomous Regions,” says the office of Minister Miguel Pinto Luz in a statement.
The Government adds that the diploma “defines a new model for the attribution of the Social Mobility Allowance to resident passengers, equivalent residents and students, users of scheduled air services between the mainland and the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira and between these Regions, complemented by inter-island maritime services, pursuing objectives of social and territorial cohesion and suppressing the differentiation of regimes that was in force until now.”
A source from the ministry told Lusa that with the decree-law “the ordinance that defines the new model will be published (maintenance of the current maximum eligible cost of 400 euros for Madeira and 600 euros for the Azores).”
Residents in the Azores will bear a maximum fare of 119 euros [currently 134] on trips between the archipelago and the mainland, while students will bear 89 euros [currently 99].
As for residents in Madeira, the fare they will bear will be 79 euros [86 currently], and students 59 euros [65, the current value].
Residents of the two archipelagos will bear a fare of 79 euros for travel between regions, while students will pay 59 euros.
The current model, in force since 2015, “offers a variable subsidy per trip, reimbursed after proof of the passenger’s eligibility,” so it was necessary to study a new model that would promote economic development and territorial and social cohesion in a fairer way to the autonomous regions, aiming to reduce mobility costs.
The harmonisation of schemes in the regions, the maintenance of the current model of maximum value borne by passengers and maximum eligible cost, with possible revision of the reference values, the creation of an electronic platform to manage the allocation of the subsidy and the creation of the necessary conditions for the payment, by the beneficiaries, only of the final net values, The amount of the subsidy is already deducted when purchasing the ticket are some of the objectives.
“The Social Mobility Allowance is, no one denies it today, an important milestone for social cohesion. It serves to bring the various parts of the national territory closer together, overcoming historical contingencies and geographical constraints,” says Minister Miguel Pinto Luz.
The new diploma welcomes the concerns expressed regarding the eligibility of residents who are not Portuguese nationals, namely in the recent initiative of the Regional Legislative Assembly of the Azores, which materialized with the amendment of Decree-Law No. 41/2015, of March 24, promoted by Law No. 12/2025, of February 19.”
On the 19th of February, Paulo Estêvão, Regional Secretary for Parliamentary Affairs of the Azores, valued the changes to the decree-law regarding the social mobility subsidy, which is extended to all immigrants residing in the Azores.
According to Paulo Estêvão, “more than three thousand people” would be without access to the social mobility subsidy. With the new rules, citizens who, “regardless of their nationality or stateless persons who have resided for at least six months in the Azores will be classed as ‘resident passengers.’
In September 2024, the Government of the Republic’s decision to impose a maximum ceiling of 600 euros for reimbursements for air travel to the mainland caused controversy in the region – until then, residents were reimbursed for the entire amount above 134 euros, regardless of the sale value of the ticket.
