Barcelona’s Urban Mobility Plan for 2024 has been finalized. This is, in concrete words, a roadmap with which the government of Ada Colau intends to achieve a “more sustainable, healthy, feminist and fair” mobility in the city.
The document in question includes a little more than 300 measures with which they intend that within two years, 82% of trips within Barcelona will be made on foot, by bicycle or by public transport.
For this reason, and with the clear objective of achieving safer and more sustainable mobility, the intention is to increase the share of walking trips by 7.5%. While that of public transport will be 15.7% and finally, that of bicycles will be 129.4%.
Barcelona by bike: Cyclists can no longer ride on the sidewalks
Colau’s plan to reduce commuting by private vehicle
In this regard, it should be mentioned that the plan foresees that trips in private vehicles will be reduced by 25.6% compared to 2018. This would result in just over 81% of trips being made by the aforementioned alternative means of transport.
In addition, it must be said that the Colau government’s plan will give continuity to the one already in place. For example, the pacification of school environments or the creation of streets with pedestrian priority.
In this regard, Janet Sanz, who is deputy mayor for urban planning indicated that:
“Pedestrians should be the protagonists of the sidewalks and, therefore, we must lower the obstacles. That is to say, motorcycles or bike lanes and in this way pedestrians can always feel safe.”
On the other hand, Sanz asked other administrations to get involved with the plan. This, in order to solve together, the challenges of metropolitan mobility in terms of public transportation and intermodality.
He also stated that the plan will not be an easy project to carry out. But Barcelona is executing each of the tasks that make it possible to fully comply with the proposed objectives, and for this reason it requires the intervention of the rest of the administrations. He added, in this sense, that an investment is needed in terms of public transport, referring to the Government and the Generalitat.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that this plan will end a little later than planned, due to the pandemic. But, in addition, by the study of the 444 allegations that were submitted during the public exhibition period, to which the Councilor for Mobility Laia Bonet indicated that 84% of the allegations have been incorporated – partially or totally – that is, 374. He also emphasized that they should start working on the 2025-2030 plan.
