A range of proposals to make mobility in Barcelona greener
More public and shared transport, use of electric vehicles and micromobility are some of the actions proposed, along with urban tolls and low emission zones.
Sustainable mobility is one of the great challenges that cities must face in the coming years. Urban tolls and low emission zones (ZBE) are measures that are at the center of the debate. The conference Transforming to grow: Boosting sustainable mobility in Catalonia, organized by EXPANSIN in collaboration with Abertis and Telefónica, addresses the main keys to understanding all the proposals put forward.
At the table on the new, more efficient transport models, Marta Labata, general director of B:SM -the holding company for municipal companies in the Catalan capital-, referred to the peculiarity of Barcelona for being the second most densely populated city in Europe , behind Paris. “Mobility solutions require a holistic vision and search for synergies with the different actors,” she explained. The executive gave as examples the collaboration with different private transport operators through the Smou technology platform and the different strategies with last-mile operators to use public car parks.
The general manager of Cooltra’s business for companies, Damin Martn, pointed out that in Barcelona significant progress has been made in the new mobility, but not enough. “It’s surprising that there are no four-wheel drive carpool operators,” he warns.
“Torpedo to Sector”
Cooltra is one of the teachings that won the shared electric motorcycle contest in Barcelona. Martín was critical of the initial tender: “It was a torpedo to the sector,” he says. For the company, it is necessary for the companies that provide the service to be able to operate more units to generate economies of scale and make the service profitable.
The person in charge of strategic alliances and open innovation at Seat, Nria Domnguez, defends the complementarity of the different types of mobility. The directive of the Spanish subsidiary of Volkswagen values that Barcelona has a good public recharging network for electric vehicles, but seals that the private one must improve. Looking to the future, she stated that Seat is prepared to participate in the introduction of the shared electric motorcycle service in the Barcelona metropolitan region, just as with the shared electric vehicle.
“Indeed, micromobility has to be part of this new mix,” says Manuel Arauco, general director in Spain of Tier, which has just been awarded the public bicycles of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB). The German mobility company is waiting to see the Barcelona City Council’s plans for micromobility. “This city has been a pioneer in mobility and has to continue alone: we hope that a good public-private collaboration can take place,” said Arauco, who claims that for the alliance to work, the Administration must understand that new companies need economies of scale. .
The table that deals with mobility at the entrance to cities focuses on the hypothetical implementation of restrictive measures. The Esade professor of operations, innovation and data science, Esteve Almirall, recognized that there is a need to reduce vehicles, although the strategy must contain several measures. “We must also stop understanding these actions as a challenge, but rather as an opportunity,” he encouraged. The best example, he explained, is that of the Chinese economic capital, Shanghai, a pioneer in banning combustion engine motorcycles: now the city is a benchmark in electric batteries.
polluting cars
Joan Maria Bigas, director of mobility, transport and sustainability of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB), expresses herself in a similar vein. “The urban toll is one more measure, surely the most striking, but we are contemplating a package of actions,” she assured. Among them, he highlighted the implementation of the low emissions zone, currently questioned by the courts. “We have removed 120,000 polluting vehicles in four years,” she says. Other outstanding actions are the regulation of parking or the reduction of traffic speed to 30 kilometers per hour in urban areas.
The general manager of Abertis Mobility Services, Christian Barrientos, considers the implementation of low emission zones to be necessary. “They are a kind of payment for use or for polluting, which can work to reduce the number of vehicles, but the emergence of the electric car is a new challenge because there will be congestion again and, therefore, these types of measures are not enough” , sure. In this sense, he was in favor of establishing an access rate according to the characteristics of the vehicle and the driver.
The president of the Chamber of Infrastructure, Equipment and Public Services Concessionaires, Francesc Sibina, criticized urban tolls. “Today, highways are free, so charging a toll at the entrance to the city seems pretty incoherent,” he said. Sibina doubted the effectiveness of the measures implemented to pacify and reduce traffic: “All the dissuasive actions that are being implemented in Barcelona result in more pollution: journeys end up being slower and more emissions are produced.”
“cyclical” effort in public transport
The general secretary of the Department of the Vice Presidency and of Digital Policies and Territory of the Generalitat, Ricard Font, referred to the “cyclopean effort” that must be carried out in the coming years to meet the objective of reducing the use of the Internet by 25%. private car in the Barcelona area. “We will have to create a public transport offer of around 300,000 seats per day, equivalent to that of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat,” he said.
Extension of Cercanas, more intercity buses with specific lanes, park and ride and transport on demand are some of the examples he cited to increase available seats, confidence and frequency. He also asked to better organize the demand – that is, the hours of entry and exit to work – to modulate the pronounced ups and downs of travelers.
Font assured that the main challenge lies in reverting the use of the car from the second metropolitan area, since in the same city and the neighboring municipalities the car accounts for little more than 20% of trips.
The Generalitat is in favor of paying for use and for contaminating high-capacity vessels, but considers that until the municipal elections of May 2023 are over, a serious debate cannot be started. Specifically, Font referred to the vignette, which will serve to finance the change to sustainable mobility.
He also considers it “surprising” that the freight or passenger railways pay a fee for using Adif’s infrastructure and that, on the other hand, the highways are free for trucks.