MUGI card (Basque Country) queries

[signed]

I will be visiting San Sebastian next month and intend of having an evening in Bilbao, using the train from Deba.

I will get a Mugi card (the wallet card for Gipuzoka) in San Sebastian, allowing me to pay the reduced price on the inbound train journey to Zumaia (hiking then to Deba).

From Deba however I have no idea.

Is the Mugi card valid on the Deba-Bilbao stretch? Is it the card's reduced fare or full fare?

I can't get a Barik card (same thing as Mugi in Biscaya) before arriving in Bilbao.

Same query if anyone knows about using the Luraldebus from Bilbao back to San Sebastian.

 

[biko]

I’ve tried to figure these things out a few years ago in 2023 when I went on holiday in the same area. At that point in time, it wasn’t worthwhile to buy a Mugi for me and we bought separate tickets. Also for the Euskotren journey to Bilbao we bought paper tickets from the machine. I remember that it was difficult to find the boundaries of validity of the cards.

The Barik was easy to get at the Euskotren station in Bilbao.

For the Luraldebus back to San Sebastián, you can buy a ticket in a machine in the bus station. As far as I remember there was no other way of doing it but hopefully it has changed. The bus itself and the departure screens were using different operator names so be prepared for some confusion

 

[MattSGB]

I will be visiting San Sebastian next month and intend of having an evening in Bilbao, using the train from Deba.

I will get a Mugi card (the wallet card for Gipuzoka) in San Sebastian, allowing me to pay the reduced price on the inbound train journey to Zumaia (hiking then to Deba).

From Deba however I have no idea.

Is the Mugi card valid on the Deba-Bilbao stretch? Is it the card's reduced fare or full fare?

I can't get a Barik card (same thing as Mugi in Biscaya) before arriving in Bilbao.

Same query if anyone knows about using the Luraldebus from Bilbao back to San Sebastian.

I really don't know why it has to be so complicated, it's a great-value system but it is so inaccessible for tourists. Google Gemini thinks that the Mugi card is valid for the train journey to Bilbao, but you will only get the discounted rates within the Mugi region until the town of Berriz. I was in this region earlier in the year and the Barik card was accepted everywhere but I think the Mugi card may be a little more troublesome on some busses.

If you have an Android phone, there is a new "Barik Mobile" app. It claims to allow your phone to act as a Barik card using NFC. However, it has zero reviews and as as per usual it is only available in Spanish or Basque languages. It may have other barriers to access (i.e. being a resident) that an anonymous Barik card doesn't.

 

[signed]

If you have an Android phone, there is a new "Barik Mobile" app. It claims to allow your phone to act as a Barik card using NFC. However, it has zero reviews and as as per usual it is only available in Spanish or Basque languages. It may have other barriers to access (i.e. being a resident) that an anonymous Barik card doesn't.

That app requires you to already have a personalized Barik card which a non-Spanish resident can't get

I really don't know why it has to be so complicated, it's a great-value system but it is so inaccessible for tourists. Google Gemini thinks that the Mugi card is valid for the train journey to Bilbao, but you will only get the discounted rates within the Mugi region until the town of Berriz. I was in this region earlier in the year and the Barik card was accepted everywhere but I think the Mugi card may be a little more troublesome on some busses.

The part about ending discounts is so complicated and nobody seems to agree

I'm probably going to get a single paper ticket, it's 3€ more (4.20 vs 1.40) but that would likely be much less hassle

 

[signed]

The Mugi website has some precisions

Frequently Asked Questions

Descripción Mugi

www.mugi.eus

• The current fares set for each card apply within its specific region, for example: for journeys on the Bilbao tramway with MUGI cards, the BARIK fare applies; for journeys with a MUGI card on the Gasteiz tramway, the BAT fare applies; for Dbus journeys with BARIK or BAT cards the MUGI rate applies.
• Euskotren applies its own fares on journeys that begin and/or end outside a card’s specific region and for inter-region journeys, for example: Hendaia-Bilbao, Eibar-Durango and Deba-Amorebieta
  • EuskoTren: On the main Bilbao-Donostia-Hendaia line, MUGI system fares apply only if the journey is between points located between Hendaia and Berriz. If the journey continues beyond those points the Euskotren fare will be applied to the full journey, as it is considered an inter-region journey.
  • Bonuses are not applied to the various MUGI/Lurraldebus reduced fare cards (Senior, Disabled, Social & Young) on journeys not included in the MUGI system.

So I take it to mean that a cross-region run on Mugi will cost full paper-ticket price

But even worse for confusion, the Euskotren apps read

Creditrans Barik, General BAT, non personalized Mugi: 1.47€
One-Way tickets: 4.50€

It makes absolutely no sense, Deba is before Berriz in the westbound direction, why is the Mugi fare still applying (if that's what they mean by

the journey continues beyond those points the Euskotren fare will be applied to the full journey, as it is considered an inter-region journey.

)


And as a even more confusing (if it could be), a Barik/BAT card is actually cheaper on dBus (the bus operator for the region of San Sebastian) than a Mugi card of their own region if you someone doesn't want a personalized card.

Fares and prices

2026 Fares – Valid on Dbus buses Cash payment of the fare to the driver Standard fare: €1.95 Night fare: €2.65 Cash payment of the tickets doesn´t allow free transfers. Payment by transport card (From April 7th, 2025) NOTE: from January 2025 there is a 40% reduction in transport subscriptions...

dbus.eus

Personalized Lurraldebus and Mugi cards​

All groups entitled to a discount will receive a discount when topping up their cards.
The journey brackets are counted within the month. The journey counter is reset to zero on the first day of each month.

• 1 to 20 trips per month: €0.49
• 21 to 50 trips per month: €0.40
• 51 trips or more per month: €0.10
• 51 trips or more per month YOUTH: 0 €
• Night fare: €2.50

Transferable Mugi card​

• Day ticket: €0.65
• Night ticket: €2.50

Bat and Barik cards​

• Day ticket: €0,49
• Night ticket: €2.50

Incredible for a region designated best ticketing system in the world at the Transport Ticketing Gala (yes, I also discovered today that that exists, I wonder the UK's spot (/s))

 

[HS2isgood]

What the EuskoTren website says is right. I don't know why or how but it is.

 

[Cl378User]

What the EuskoTren website says is right. I don't know why or how but it is.

It’s hidden away in a PDF that might only be accessible on the Spanish version of the site, but all journeys in Euskotren’s Zone 5 are treated as being within the same region regardless of if you’re going towards San Sebastián or Bilbao; for Deba to Bilbao it means you’re being charged Euskotren’s regular fares for Bizkaia. The fares on that PDF are currently wrong though because of the transport subsidy in place in Bizkaia currently reducing all tickets by 40%, which does make the €2.45 fare shown on the PDF €1.47… Spanish transport is not known for its information accessibility if you don’t speak Spanish unfortunately!