It is not uncommon for cyclists and, above all, users of electric scooters to ride their vehicles in areas where it is not allowed either because there is a general or a specific ban. With the intention of making the rule clearer, improving the degree of compliance and reducing conflicts with pedestrians, Barcelona City Council has installed new signage indicating the obligation to get off bikes or mobility vehicles personal (VMP) and go on foot in these spaces. It has just been done in seven points, which are added to two more that were already in testing. Thirty more will be added until the end of the year. The action is part of the Endreça Plan, which also includes measures in the field of mobility.
“We want people to understand the sign, respect it and reduce conflicts”, explained yesterday Adrià Gomila, director of the City Council’s Mobility Services, at one of these points, the footbridge that connects the center of Sant Andreu with La Maquinista above the train tracks. It is a very busy place with pedestrians coming and going from the metro stop, the shopping center and the schools on either side. In the middle of the route there is a connection, also on foot, with Rodalies station. This space is also a regular route for home delivery people who go by bike or VMP.
In these first seven enclaves, the ban on riding bikes or electric scooters was already indicated by round vertical signs with a white background and a red border. But it has been verified that they were not paid much attention. Some may disobey them because they don’t have a driver’s license and don’t know what they mean. The new ones leave no doubt. They are mandatory (round and with a blue background) and you can see a cyclist and a VMP user carrying the vehicles on foot. They are based on a model that the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) plans to incorporate into the General Traffic Regulations and that the City Council has adapted. “They are more intuitive and clear for everyone”, emphasized Gomila. The indications have been placed next to those that were already there, which will remain. Teams of informants explain these first days the new signs as well as the regulations in force.
The Guardia Urbana fined offenders when they caught them red-handed in these points where the ban on driving already existed. Penalties can reach 500 euros. The police control, which for these vehicles has regular campaigns, will continue. Of course, municipal officials are confident that with the new signs, indiscipline will decrease. This 2023 – until September – 4,718 complaints have been filed for driving in unauthorized areas. Of this total, 3,777 correspond to electric scooters (both for individuals and economic activities) and 941 for bicycles.
Until now there were two points with this new signage: the new Treball Digne bridge, in the Sant Andreu district, and the Via Augusta at the height of Pau Alcover, in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi. The seven new ones are in Plaça de Ferran Reyes, 2-8, at the confluence of Carrer Ferran Junoy and São Paulo, at the La Maquinista walkway and in two areas of Meridiana, at numbers 276 and 285, all in Sant Andreu; in Agudes, 92 (Nou Barris) and in Gran Via de Carles III-Sabino Arana (les Corts).
The next thirty sites are being studied with the districts. Unlike the previous ones, they do not have signage but generic municipal regulations do not authorize VMPs and bikes. The plan is to place the two signals, white and blue, in these places.
