The palliative measures ordered at the end of summer by the government of Mayor Jaume Collboni to mitigate the inconvenience caused by the continuous passage of buses in the neighborhoods of Fort Pienc and Sagrada Família are not working. Although the traditionally highest moments of the season are now behind us, neighborhood unrest is intensifying. Smoke, noise, clogged sidewalks suddenly impassable... On any given day, a hundred buses packed mainly with cruise passengers, and some others up to 150, approach this side of the Eixample.
These are the unwanted effects of an economic activity that is currently fundamental in Barcelona. One of the objectives of the socialist executive's latest municipal budget proposal is to put an end to these inconveniences. The neighborhood associations of these neighborhoods, however, are not entirely clear that a new tax will be enough to solve these problems. They think that the City Council has to take more forceful measures when managing public space. Meanwhile the conflict does not subside.
Some are fed up with having to make their way through the streets among streams of visitors, with tourists insisting on going to the bathroom without taking anything, with the noise and fumes of the buses. And others never imagined that they would have to walk so much and uphill to take a look at the temple, that they would treat so many elderly people or people with mobility problems so inconsiderately, that some disturbed person would be capable of shooting pellets against the windshield of their bus. ...
For a year or so now, the situation has only gotten worse, since the works to join the two tram lines forced most of the bus parking spaces to be moved to Consell de Cent Street and its surroundings. tourists until then arranged on Diagonal Avenue. And the truth is that the new squares recently enabled by the City Council in front of the Plaza de la Monumental in order to decongest this entrenched chaos are barely being used. Some drivers say that if they park there, so far from the Sagrada Família, cruise passengers complain about the walk, that they prefer to park in the first free parking lot they find, wherever it may be... In fact, some drivers have no problem with it. Passengers get on or off the vehicles in unauthorized places, such as Diputació Street, where the bus door faces the side of the asphalt.
“The City Council sends us further and further away, around the Sagrada Família and all the points of interest in the city,” they say at the APIT, the Professional Association of Tourist Interpreters, one of the main groups of tourist guides. lifetime-. Tourists don't understand that we have to stop so far away. Why can the Tourist Bus stop in front of the Sagrada Família and our coaches can't? So the only thing the City Council is achieving is that the inconvenience and tension will spread. The other day they shot again with pellets at a bus. And in November the rate of arrival of cruise ships will slow down, but other excursions will come in their place, especially from visitors and schoolchildren who are in Tarragona and are coming to Barcelona one day. The situation is not going to change in a sensible way.”
A banner on a balcony in Consell de Cent asks bus drivers to turn off their engines while parked. “Let's see, I still see a little, just enough to make my way through the tourists with my cane,” says a local resident who is very involved in this matter and in the neighborhood association. The problem is that the lack of control is absolute. Here we have sidewalks less than two meters wide with parking spaces for coaches—not even the cruise passengers can fit in when they get off! and the City Council has been saying for many months that all this is provisional, even that in July they would find another solution, but the reality is that the problems are becoming entrenched, everything is getting out of control. The buses are supposed to have ten minutes for tourists to get off or on, but then they remain parked as long as they want, with the engine running, generating noise and fumes, so as not to turn off the air conditioning! And some park wherever they want! win! and the City Council does not impose the sanctions it should impose. And the new district councilor told us in a meeting in the middle of the month that rates and taxes will increase, and what good does that do for the neighbors? "They are ruining the daily life of this neighborhood."
Jordi Valls, the councilor responsible for Eixample, is also the deputy mayor of Economy, one of the fathers of the budget proposal of the socialist executive that is committed to increasing the tax on cruise ships, among other things. Representatives of the Fort Pienc and Sagrada Família neighborhood associations were also present at that meeting. Those from Fort Pienc detail that they are already preparing a forceful protest action. “He also told us that he would talk to the Urban Police so that the buses do not leave their engines running, but the truth is we do not see anything that will stop the lack of control. This is an oil stain that spreads little by little.”
“Raising taxes on tourist activities is not going to reduce the number of tourists,” the Sagrada Família association says. Then visitors will come who spend more, but we neighbors will have the same problems. The City Council has to manage public space, control compliance with its rules, coach parking, the size of tourist groups... The previous government did little in this regard, and the new one is going down the same path.”
