Residents of the Fort Pienc neighborhood want Barcelona City Council to restrict the number of buses that bring hundreds of tourists every day so they can take a look at the Sagrada Família temple.
The government of Mayor Jaume Collboni announced this Wednesday that it will rearrange the parking of these vehicles in order to stop the inconvenience, but many residents expected greater municipal determination.
“Yes, the truth is that we applaud the City Council's half-hearted measures,” said the Fort Pienc neighborhood association. We hoped that they would move more stops next to the Auditori and the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, where no one lives. And above all, we also want the City Police to really ensure compliance with the regulations, especially with regard to engines running all the time. In addition, the municipal company BSM should establish quotas and schedules, really control the number of coaches that use these parking lots. Now those who want come whenever they want.” Every day between one hundred and 150 coaches of this type pass through here, depending on the height of the season.
And the tour guides, for their part, regret that the City Council does not bring their vehicle parking closer to the temple, and warn that in this way the columns of visitors and the consequent inconvenience for the neighbors will spread across more streets.
The truth is that the problems of coexistence on this side of the Eixample have not ceased to worsen since in mid-2022 the works to extend the two tram lines across Diagonal forced the transfer of the bus stops located a little further down. to Consell de Cent street and its surroundings.
Suddenly many residents of the Fort Pienc neighborhood found a string of buses parked under their windows with their engines running. Smoke and noise sneak into their homes all the time. In addition, the columns of tourists that fill the sidewalks are also concentrated in its streets. And in bars and stores they regret that these visitors only ask them to go to the bathroom. La Vanguardia detailed these annoyances on numerous occasions. The municipal fixes of recent months barely alleviated these inconveniences.
The rearrangement recently announced by the City Council plans to eliminate five parking spaces on Padilla Street and another two on Consell de Cent Street to open another three next to the Monumental bullring. In this way, the number of assigned parking spaces would go from 17 to 13. This same Wednesday, a parking lot on Padilla Street was eliminated. The rest of the work will be carried out in April.
“This intervention shows the municipal government's commitment to prioritizing tourism management in the areas with the greatest affluence,” says socialist Jordi Valls, deputy mayor for Tourism and councilor in charge of the Eixample district. Tourism is an economic engine of Barcelona, but we have to manage it properly together with the neighborhood fabric.”
