Madrid Metro's "More for less" advertising campaign sparks backlash from public

In August of last year, the cost of a single ticket on the Madrid Metro was raised by 50 percent: from one euro to 1.50. Four months later, when initial complaints by users and consumer associations had died down, the transport company launched an ad campaign, with the slogan "More for less," to justify the increase by singing the praises of the Metro system.

In mid-December, posters began to appear in Metro stations bearing the slogan. Some showed comparisons between the price of Madrid's single Metro ticket and that of other cities around the world - Paris (1.70), New York (1.83), Oslo (3.61) and London (4.64) - while others emphasized the kilometers of track that the Madrid Metro provides citizens. But it seems a number of travelers are far from convinced.

No sooner had the adverts appeared than graffiti was added to a lot of the posters, offering a different perspective. One read: "And what about salaries?" Another, meanwhile, saw the minimum wage in each city scrawled next to the ticket price: "Madrid, 641 euros; Paris, 1,300 euros; Oslo, 2,000 euros." Photos of the altered ads soon began to spread through social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook.

According to sources from Metro Madrid, since the campaign began the customer service department has received 38 complaints about the adverts. The company usually receives 800 complaints every month.

A spokesperson for Madrid Metro explained that the campaign is merely informative, and "is not linked" to the increase in tariffs. In spite of the numerous complaints the company has received, it says that it has no plans to remove the advertisements ahead of schedule, at the end of January. "Like all campaigns, some people like it more than others," the spokesperson said.

One internet user has organized a petition calling for the campaign to be taken down through the website Actuable, which bills itself as "an online community to organize the fight against injustice." By Wednesday it had collected 11,500 signatures.

"We are all outraged," the webpage reads, because "the information is a comparison of ticket prices with those of cities that have a much higher standard of living, and the information is incorrect (for example, the cost of the London ticket is not a single, but rather is valid all day)."

Another cause for complaint is the cost of the campaign. Metro Madrid has not made the figures public, but has pointed out that its own resources were used, and that the posters were placed in locations on the Metro system that are not usually contracted to other advertisers, such as entrances and exits.

Since August 8, single tickets for Madrid Metro, city buses and the light rail network all cost 50 cents more. This increase makes Madrid the city with the highest Metro and bus ticket prices in all of Spain, although Barcelona is about to raise its price from 1.45 euros to two euros. San Sebastián and Valencia are the next highest, at 1.40 euros. The price of the Madrid ticket had not been raised since 2004, when the cost actually went down from 1.15 to one euro.

A study by UBS bank provides figures for the average net salaries of the biggest cities in the world, which allows for a better comparison of the real cost of a subway ticket. After the Madrid price rise in August, New York emerges as the most economical. Using the same comparison, the Madrid ticket is indeed the next cheapest, but costs the same in real terms as a single ticket does for residents of Stockholm and Paris.