With leather jackets and helmets in hand, some did not want to miss yesterday a very special session dedicated to the bikers of Barcelona. With more than 200 attendees at the Eixample Teatre on Carrer Aragó, the candidates for the mayoralty of Barcelona expressed their ideas and proposals for the future aimed at this collective with a notable weight in urban mobility, around 350,000 users who turn the Catalan capital into one of the cities with the most motorbikes in the old continent.
In the event "Barcelona, the city of motorbikes", organized by Motoristes per Barcelona, the list leaders of the formations with municipal representation - with the absences of the mayor Ada Colau and the republican Ernest Maragall - agreed to highlight the importance of this vehicle as part of the mobility solution not only in the city but also in the metropolitan area to alleviate circulatory collapses, in addition to generating industry and jobs. According to the political leaders, this mode of transport needs to be strengthened in the future, but also to generate consensus and new agreements to improve mobility in Barcelona, where the roads are getting narrower and narrower with the removal of traffic lanes.
In this sense, the former mayor of Barcelona and Junts candidate, Xavier Trias, advocated for a new motorcycle plan that "does not go against" these vehicles and promotes "coexistence and good use". Trias emphasized that it is an "essential vehicle" for the city, without which mobility "would be a disaster, more than it is now". The socialist Jaume Collboni also defended a new motorcycle pact that gives a "clear lead" to the users of this means of transport and that "understands their contribution to the mobility of the city". On the other hand, the leader of the PSC pointed out the importance of these vehicles in the fight against the climate emergency, which is why he proposed subsidies to make the change from a combustion engine to an electric one. According to Anna Grau, from Ciutadans, Barcelona cannot "exclude" the motorcycle from its mobility plan because it is "a good solution and people have the right to ride a motorcycle".
During the session, one of the issues that most concern this group was addressed: road safety. Concrete blocks, Berlin cushions to reduce speed, the state of the pavement and road markings with paint are some of the dangerous elements that motorists, a vulnerable group in terms of circulation, complain about. Last year, 23 fatalities were recorded in traffic accidents in the city, of which 16 were motorcyclists, according to municipal data. Faced with this reality, Eva Parera, from Valents, commented that one of the main issues that need to be rectified are the "dysfunctionalities" produced in recent years, in which "urban planning has been imposed and the mobility reports".
The popular Daniel Sirera lamented that Barcelona is "dangerous" for motorists, and bet on turning it into a motorcycle-friendly city by facilitating its use with measures such as excluding these vehicles from the low-emission zone, reducing the road tax or create a motorcycle museum in Montjuïc. The soul of the event, ex-pilot and editor Jaume Alguersuari, asked the mayors if they will do a six-month pilot test to allow the circulation of motorbikes on the bus lane. The PP and Valents promised to do so, as well as Citizens, as long as security is guaranteed. Another widespread request was to create more parking spaces. The motorcycle raised its voice yesterday at a key moment in the city.
