They go completely unnoticed next to the Formula 1 teams or the Primavera Sound artists, but the headliners of the public transport sector also meet in Barcelona these days. The world public transport summit brings together the top managers of operators, manufacturers and associated industry at the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via venue in a biennial congress that changes its venue with each edition.
Organized by the International Union of Public Transport (UITP) for more than a century, it is one of the main international meetings of the sector. Some 15,000 people will pass through its conferences and exhibition spaces until tomorrow. State-of-the-art electric buses and trains fresh from the factory are at the event, as well as those responsible for public transport from the major international metropolises who share experiences and problems.
After a few years marked by the covid crisis and the skyrocketing cost of energy, the sector is euphoric: operators are celebrating that they are already moving even more passengers than before the pandemic and manufacturers are managing lists of projects around the world. . They are aware that it is a crucial moment in which cities –with mayors of all colors– are evolving and no one wants to be left behind.
Barcelona is the scene of all this, although neither the City Council nor the Generalitat have wanted to give it the impact it deserved. The regulars of the congress, which took place four years ago in Stockholm, remember other cities in which the vehicles were exhibited in the main square of the place and the buses were decorated with pennants to show that they were special days. Outside the three fairgrounds on Gran Via, there is no trace of the congress, although the Catalan capital is full of professionals observing the daily operation of public transport.
The CEO of Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), Gerardo Lertxundi, for example, yesterday hosted a large delegation from the United States, including representatives from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and the metropolitan area of Washington headed by the US Federal Transportation Agency (FTA). They were visiting electric buses in the garages and were also interested in hydrogen projects. Later it was time for a delegation from Hamburg who wanted to see the automatic metro line with which you can get to the congress.
Wherever they are from, those responsible for public transport are looking for the formula to continue winning travelers and reducing emissions. For this reason, the kings of the summit exhibition space are the 100% electric buses. “Public transport is one of the best ways to help make cities more livable and the people who make decisions about it are gathered here”, sums up Sylvain Haon, UITP's director of strategy. The other sustainability, the financial one, is also a matter of debate in the round tables, where the investments and the benefits obtained are weighed, both economically and socially.
Nor does the agenda of the CEOs of large railway companies such as Alstom and Siemens have free spaces. The French multinational exhibits the first train that visitors find upon entering, one of the wagons that just opened on line 3 of the Barcelona metro a few weeks ago. The German company, for its part, has a motorcycle for rent by the minute at its stand as a demonstration of the evolution of companies that continue to manufacture frames for trains, although their product catalog is already much broader. They also share a serious concern for the security of their systems. The greater digitization, the greater the risk of cyberattacks.
The Barcelona summit is also the scene of an unusual display of unity. Renfe and Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat (FGC) share a stand where TMB is also present as congress hosts. Getting them to go together has cost so much effort that it has led to a neutral space in which absolutely nothing is exhibited beyond a few generic topics about public transport. In this way they have ensured that they do not hurt sensitivities between them. For that, the politicians are already there, who were in charge of stirring up once again the controversy over the transfer of Rodalies during the inauguration, which was attended by the Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, and a subsequent visit by the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonese.
