Soon the price of the monthly card will be raised - so you avoid the pitfalls

Since July 1, the price of monthly passes in public transport has been halved throughout Sweden. The decision was made by the government at the beginning of the summer and means that the regions are compensated by the state for the discounted price.

The discounted card is valid until the new year, but the last day to buy and activate it is different depending on where in the country you are.

In Stockholm, 2 December is the last day to activate your ticket to take advantage of the discount.

It is no problem to have two active tickets on the mobile at the same time, according to Andreas Strömberg, at SL's press service. Even if you already have an activated ticket on your mobile that is valid for longer than December 2, it is therefore fine to activate another one.

- They can be activated at the same time. And if you don't, we'll activate that ticket so it doesn't become unusable, he says.

In Västra Götaland, the last day to buy the card is December 2. But here it is fine to activate the ticket within 30 days. This means that it is possible to travel at half the price well into January.

In Skåne, the last day is not at all far away. You must have bought your card by Monday 2 November at the latest to be able to take part in the half price until the New Year.

- You must activate it within 30 days. So if you buy two, you can activate one on November 2. Then you can activate the second 2 December, and it will be valid for the rest of the year, says Anders Engzell at Skånetrafiken's press service.

In the Västerbotten region, the ticket must be purchased by December 1 at the latest and is only valid until the turn of the year. It does not matter if the ticket is activated later in December - it expires at the turn of the year.

In all regions, the temporary price reduction has led to increased sales. In July, when the change took effect, sales of 30-day tickets increased by around 105 percent in Stockholm compared to last year.

- Since then it has been around 60 percent more. At the same time, the number of single tickets has decreased, says Andreas Strömberg at SL.

In Skåne, the number of tickets sold increased by 38 percent in September and 56 percent in October. For the Öresund ticket, the corresponding figures are around 60 percent. Gothenburg increased ticket sales by 62 percent in September compared to last year.

However, the number of trips has not increased at the same rate. They are around 6 percent in Västra Götaland, around 10 percent in Skåne and 7 percent in the Stockholm area.

- There have been more people who have traveled, but not at all to the extent that 30-day tickets have been sold, says Andreas Strömberg at SL.