guy hedgecoe reports from madrid.heme, offering free train travel on shorterjourneys. this measure, which will remain in place across spain over the next four months, aims to help counter the spiralling cost of living. the petrol cost is really high right now and this initiative or this opportunity is saving a lot of money for people because for instance, in my case i am going by car every day, twice a week, 60 kilometres per day to go by train forforfree. what i see, especially in people my age, is that we make we don't make a lot of money because salaries are not very high. in recent months, spanish inflation has been hovering around 10%, with rising fuel and energy costs a particular concern. the free rail travel initiative is just one of several measures the spanish government has taken recently in an effort to try and counter the rising cost of living. since april, a discount of 20 euro cents per litre has been offered at petrol pumps funded by the government and energy companies. and more recently, vat on gas wa

guy hedgecoe reports from madrid.s across the country, and this will benefit, in particular, people who travel regularly along the same route, for example commuters. and the way that it works is that you buy your ticket, as of today, for a specific route, and if you use that ticket at least 16 times between now and the end of the year, at the end of the year the cost of that ticket will be refunded to you. and, along with that, many cities across the country, as of today, are also introducing major discounts on other services such as bus and underground rail services. here in madrid, those services are being discounted by 50% as of today. all of this is part of efforts by the leftist government of pedro sanchez to mitigate the impact of inflation, which is currently at 10%, and in particular the impact of rising energy costs. this is not the first measure of its kind introduced by mr sanchez�*s government. already in place, we have a discount at petrol pumps worth 20 eurocents per litre, and also today mr sanchez anno

guy hedgecoe is in madrid with the story.t with as you can tell that report isn't with us either so we will possibly come back to the uk and to spain. a similar idea was introduced in germany at the start of summer. for nine euros or £7.50 passengers could travel on regional or local transport as many times as they liked over the course of a month. this was very popular. 52 million tickets were sold over summer. the chancellor olaf sholz called it "one of the best ideas we've had." it wasn'tjust rail — the government also reduced petrol prices over the past three months. today, though, both schemes came to an end. despite how popular they were. this was the reaction at one pump in berlin. translation: it's not good, it's bad news for the people | who need to drive, need to drive to work. i filled up yesterday before the prices went up again and now it's just really expensive and everything is expensive, not just petrol. you just have to drive less if you can and take public transport or walk. i think we can now go back to the

guy hedgecoe reports from madrid.ng. since april, a discount of 20 euros cents per litre has been offered at petrol pumps funded by the government and energy companies. and more recently, vat on gas was slashed to 5%. electricity and gas now cost 50% more than a year ago. this has helped push up the price of products such as food, which has increased by 14% when prices have gone up. tranlation: everything is costing more, whether it's olive oil - or electricity or water. so we've put prices up. it's been a perfect storm. salaries don't go up, but the prices go up. we're all up to our necks. leftist coalition government of pedro sanchez says it's doing everything possible to protect consumers, but it's facing mounting pressure to do more. in this recent parliamentary debate. the opposition said the government's measures to combat inflation were barely having any effect. earlier this year, haulage workers staged a strike over fuel prices. more protests are being prepared as workers demand wage rises to match inflation.

guy hedgecoe reports from madrid.y high — money because salaries are not ve hiuh. money because salaries are not very high-— very high. the recent months, sanish very high. the recent months, spanish inflation _ very high. the recent months, spanish inflation has - very high. the recent months, spanish inflation has been - spanish inflation has been hovering around 10%. with rising fuel and energy cost of particular concern. the free rail travel initiative is one of several measures that the spanish government has taken recently in an effort to try and counter the rising cost of living. since april a discount of 20 eurocents per litre has been offered a petrol pump is funded by the government and energy companies. more recently, vat on gas was slashed to 5%. electricity and gas now cost 50% more than one year ago. this has helped push up year ago. this has helped push up the price of product such as food which has increased by 14%. translation: food which has increased by 1496. tuna/mom- food which has increased by 14