The bike lane is a space designed, at least on paper, for bicycles –and scooters– to circulate safely. The reality, on the other hand, is that many times it becomes an obstacle course for those who use these means of transport. When it's not a car parked two minutes in the middle, it's a motorcycle overtaking or a van turning over the bike lane without paying attention to priority.
It is the main complaint expressed by those surveyed, 93% of them, in the fifth edition of the RACC barometer of cycling mobility in Barcelona, where 61% say they have suffered reckless overtaking that has put them at risk, more than half have harassed by a car or motorcycle that did not respect the safety distance, 44% have been insulted and even 13% have been physically attacked.
Despite the setbacks and risks that are found in their day to day, the bicycle is an option that does not stop gaining followers. In recent years, its use has increased by 77% on weekdays and the data from the annual barometer carried out by the mobility club demonstrate this. So much so that even the bike lanes at the time criticized by the club itself, such as the one in Ganduxer, now have triple the number of users than when they were opened and their meaning then questioned is now more than justified.
The increase in the use of bike lanes is such that the RACC has applied for the first time the technique used to measure the flow of traffic on the roads and the result in some points is truly alarming. The Diagonal, Gran Via and Paral·lel bike lanes have a D level of service in a classification that goes from A (fluidity) to F (collapse), thus giving it consideration as a service with many conflicts. It would be the equivalent of the orange color that would be given to a road on the rush hour traffic map. In the case of bike lanes, it means that people go much slower than expected because the chances of overtaking are rather slim due to the narrowness of the existing infrastructure.
"There are bike lanes that should be wider, with two lanes in each direction... at this point they can die of success, an overall vision is needed and prioritizing the cycling network with main and secondary roads", assesses Cristian Bardají, director of the RACC mobility area. The incorporation of scooters in recent years, to the point of representing approximately a third of the vehicles that circulate on the bike lanes, has increased their use and conflict, since if the surveyed cyclists dislike anyone, it is precisely those who go on a scooter, even ahead of buses, trucks and vans.
Whether with more or fewer scooters, the hierarchization proposed by the RACC would imply promoting the most frequented bike lanes, occupying for example the entire side of the Diagonal and the Gran Via, as at some point the previous municipal government proposed, although the The authors of the report prefer not to specify solutions like that, which would raise blisters among drivers. In fact, the president of the RACC, Josep Mateu, believes that along with the extension of some, others should also be eliminated and agrees with Jaume Collboni on the need to "re-evaluate" the controversial Via Augusta project.
The observation made by the study is not limited to the center of the Catalan capital, it also addresses the accesses and precisely there are some of the highest levels of use of the bike lanes, thus endorsing the successful commitment to metropolitan connections promoted in recent years. years by the Vice President of Mobility of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), Antoni Poveda. The entrance and exit of Barcelona through the Gran Via from l'Hospitalet and through the iconic Esplugues footbridge that exceeds the Ronda de Dalt have more than 150 bikes per hour every morning, figures higher than streets of the Eixample such as Paris and axes from other neighborhoods such as Pujades in Poblenou and Creu Coberta in Sants.
“The bicycle is no longer urban, it is metropolitan”, proclaims Bardají, who urges the unification of the shared public bicycle systems of Barcelona (Bicing) and the AMB (AMBici) to be clear when the respective contracts in force end in 2029. Until then, there will be no choice but to combine the two in the best possible way, despite the fact that half of those surveyed assure that they would make trips in the metropolitan area if they could. The recent launch of the metropolitan Bicing – which forces you to change bikes but at least allows you to make these journeys – is already included in the RACC barometer and now represents 4%.
Among the large amount of data presented this Tuesday at the mobility club headquarters, reference is also made to the risk behaviors that the respondents themselves recognize. 71% acknowledge that they go through red lights when there are no motor vehicles nearby, 20% more than last year. Also, 63% admit that they cycle faster than allowed, 19% more than in 2022. Likewise, 49% affirm that they do not make maneuvers with their arms to warn of turns or lane changes, while in the previous edition of the barometer they were 42%.
Lower is the use of distracting elements that are punishable. 34% talk on the mobile phone at some time and 39% put on headphones to listen to music. Instead, six out of ten adult cyclists say they wear a helmet most of the time, although it is not mandatory for those over 16 years of age in urban environments.
Between one thing and another, the cyclists themselves give a 6.2 grade to their civic conduct. The worst grade they give to the cycling network, which they score with an average of 5.4 out of 10. And although it may seem to some that there are cycle lanes everywhere, nine out of ten cyclists regret that they cannot do all their usual routes on safe segregated routes. Of what there is, the best mark is given to the Diagonal bike lane, with a 6.3, and the worst to the Gran Via bike lane between Plaza Espanya and Plaza Cerdà, which still runs along the sidewalk next to the pedestrians and users fail it with a 4.6.
