A new digital platform created to explain this topic, called ‘Fair Mobility’, was launched today along with a petition to gather support.
A project aimed at explaining the implications of the new Social Mobility Subsidy (SSM) to Portuguese residents on the islands (and beyond) was launched today as a digital platform. Accompanying this initiative was a Public Petition that seeks, above all, a review of the maximum SSM limits.
On the platform, called ‘Fair Mobility’, which you can consult at the link at the end of the text, they immediately address one of the problems: “Christmas with family? Only for those who can afford it. The new rules for granting the Social Mobility Subsidy go far beyond not having to pay the State debt, and probably mean you will have to pay much more to travel during peak season.”
Thus, they emphasize to “Madeirans, Azoreans and other citizens residing, working, or studying in the Islands” who have “been paying attention to the news in recent days” and who “will know that the Social Mobility Subsidy (SSM) is surrounded by controversy, mainly due to the fact that it is now mandatory to prove that travelers are not in debt with the Tax Authority and Social Security, a measure now suspended until January 31st,” it is important to remember that “the same Ordinance introduced another change, which remains in force despite the suspension of the no-debt requirement, which has gone unnoticed and affects us much more than the no-debt to the State: the change in the rules for one-way trips (OW).”
In other words, “this ‘innovation’, as the Government has dubbed it, stands out because beneficiaries will now only have to pay half the amount they usually paid in the past,” which “in the case of Madeira residents, for example, means these are the costs to be borne: resident: €79 → €39.50; student: €59 → €29.50.” It adds: “However, this simultaneously implied a reduction in the maximum eligible amount from €400 to €200, also half the amount established in the previous version of the legislation. The problem is that a large part of air travel only occurs during peak periods (especially Christmas/New Year and Easter), times when the price of air transport is much higher than during the rest of the year.”
The central concern of the platform’s authors, more precisely two young higher education students in mainland Portugal directly affected by this measure, João Pedro Sousa and Gonçalo Gomes, is to appeal to all who can to sign the Public Petition through this link , which is addressed to the Assembly of the Republic, that is, directly to its president José Pedro Aguiar-Branco.
In the Public Petition, they appeal to the President of the Assembly of the Republic to “promote the urgent discussion of this matter in the competent Committee; encourage parliamentary review of Decree No. 12-B/2026/1, with a view to its possible amendment; facilitate the hearing of representatives of SSM beneficiaries and experts on the matter; and support the presentation of draft resolutions aimed at safeguarding the rights of mobility, territorial continuity and equal opportunities for all Portuguese citizens, regardless of their residence on the mainland or in the Autonomous Regions”. It currently has 29 petitioners.
To learn more about this platform, follow this link .