Barcelona has become the Spanish city where people use the car the least to commute to work. Barcelona residents prefer to use public transport.
A recent report by the National Statistics Institute, INE, revealed that only one in four inhabitants of the Catalan capital use the car to commute to work or study.
In contrast, 57% of Barcelona residents are regular users of public transport.
Compared to other Spanish cities, Barcelona is at the top in terms of the use of public transport and walking to get to their daily activities.
Madrid, for example, has a proportion of 43% of inhabitants who use the car to go to work, while in Malaga, the figure reaches 56%.
What is the reason for the preference for public transportation?
There are several explanations for this trend, according to the technicians who prepared the INE report.
One of them is the high population density in the city. With more than 1.5 million people in just 101 km2, Barcelona is one of the most densely populated cities in Spain.
On the other hand, Madrid has a territory six times larger than that of Barcelona and three times the number of inhabitants compared to the Catalan capital.
Another possible explanation for the preference for public transport in Barcelona is vehicle restriction policies, such as low-emission zones and the pedestrianization of many streets.
The last reason is that public transport in Barcelona is considered to be efficient and constantly available, which allows citizens to move around the city more easily.
Bicycle, scooter and other vehicles
As for the use of bicycles and electric scooters, these modes of transport are also gaining popularity in Barcelona.
The city has an extensive network of bike lanes and bike sharing stations, which has led to an increase in the number of bicycle users in the city.
Within the “other types of vehicles” category, about 19% of people commute to work or school by motorcycle.
Likewise, the use of public transport also varies according to the age and gender of users.
In fact, 54% of those under 30 years of age use public transport on a regular basis, while only 36% of those over 50 years of age do so.
In terms of gender, women are the highest users of public transport compared to men at 50% compared to 31% of men.
All the measures taken in Barcelona to improve transportation make it the leading city in sustainable mobility in Spain.
