The municipality of Barcelona has announced new measures to tackle tourist nuisance in the area around Parc Güell, the city’s second most visited tourist attraction.
These measures, including limiting access for non-residents and adapting public transport, should improve the quality of life for local residents.
Traffic adjustments
Laia Bonet, Barcelona city councillor, explained the measures taken after intensive consultation with residents and municipal groups. The first intervention concerns reducing the accessible zone for cars around Parc Güell. An automatic retractable bollard restricting access will be moved to surrounding streets. This measure must ensure only residents and taxis that pick up or drop off residents have access to the neighbourhood.
Taxi stand and bus transport
Another important change is the relocation of the taxi stand to a location next to the bus stops, where it causes less inconvenience. In addition, bus routes 24 and V19 are reinforced with extra buses at weekends and during the summer months to accommodate the crowds.
Stricter controls on bus use
To prevent abuse of public transport, the payment of bus tickets will be more closely monitored. Bonet emphasises the importance of discipline among passengers: “We want everyone to pay for using the bus.”
Online ticket sales for Parc Güell
The most drastic measure is to stop ticket sales at counters. Visitors can only purchase an entrance ticket to Parc Güell online. This measure is intended to reduce the number of visitors who come to the park without a ticket. An online campaign will inform tourists that the park may be sold out and tickets must be purchased online in advance.
Route 116 bus removed from Google Maps
As an exceptional measure, the municipality has removed bus route 116 from Google Maps and other navigation apps. Residents had filed complaints about tourists using this bus line en masse. This small neighbourhood bus, intended for a maximum of 25 people, was often so full that the elderly and disabled could not use public transport.
Removing the bus route from online platforms has had an effect: the number of daily users of bus 116 has fallen. “It works well, but we see it as an exceptional measure,” said Bonet.
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