Just over four days before the debut at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, with the Joan Gamper trophy dispute against Tottenham, Barça and Barcelona City Council presented the routes designed for people who want to go to a match in Montjuïc, the home of the Blaugrana club until it returns to Camp Nou in November 2024. The plan envisages great mobility on foot, on free shuttle buses, by funicular, by bicycle and even by scooter, but a little presence of private vehicles.
“The journey will be between 10 and 20 minutes from the perimeter of the mountain. It is an effort by the club to provide maximum facilities and well-being to members. We want a positive experience with sustainable mobility”, said the director of Barça’s sustainability area, Jordi Portabella, at the 1899 Auditorium, about a Mobility Plan that has cost 5.9 million, of which 3.3 been paid by the club.
The two hybrid buses, which will be accessed with the ticket to the match, will run two hours before and up to an hour and a half after the match with a frequency of four minutes. In total, they will absorb a maximum of 4,400 people per hour. They will leave from Plaça Espanya and Carrer Foc, where a 2,000-space car park has been set up at Fira 2 for match attendees. It will be one of the four car parks in the area. The funicular, which will be paid for, will have the capacity to carry up to 8,000 people every hour. In addition, the metro schedule will be extended after the matches if necessary and there will be two taxi stops. In general, public transport will be strengthened, including regular bus lines.
On the other hand, the private vehicle, discouraged by Barça and the City Council, will be very restricted. The entry of cars will be prohibited three hours before the match and the green parking area of ??the neighboring neighborhoods will be for residents only, a measure not to disturb the lives of the residents. There will be a car park for 3,500 motorbikes between Carrer Doctor Font i Quer and Passeig del Migdia, but only workers in the area and cars accredited by Barça will be able to access the Anella Olímpica by car. That is, those with a parking space. For safety reasons, the area attached to the stadium will only be accessible to 70 cars that transport people with reduced mobility. For their part, the clubs will have a parking lot for 70 coaches.
“The plan exceeds the 45,000-50,000 people in the stadium. It will be a reasonable charge in two hours. There will be no traffic jams, unless everyone wants to go there at the same time,” added Portabella, who hopes to bring the plan to the new Camp Nou. He also confirmed that the women’s team will not go to Montjuïc, an option that had been planned.
“The work has been intense so that Barça’s arrival is smooth”, explained Xavier Patón, manager of Mobility, Infrastructure and Urban Services at the City Council. “The presence of Barça will leave a legacy in the city”, continued the representative of the council in reference to, among other aspects, the improvement of the escalators on Avinguda Maria Cristina and the new bike lane that from September will connect Miramar with Plaza España passing through the stadium, the route with the least gradient, a maximum of 10%. Gardens and sidewalks have also been adapted, there will be more traffic lights and lighting will be improved, which will give more security to those who follow a well-signposted route on foot. It can be reached by walking from Plaça Espanya, from Carrer Foc and from Miramar, if you have used the funicular before. These sections will be reinforced with Mossos d’Esquadra and Guàrdia Urbana, in addition to creating points of reference to report possible attacks.
“We work so that there is civility, but we have a responsibility”, insisted Patón about the cleaning, which will intensify after the matches, as it happens with the concerts. The mountain will be dyed blaugrana, but it will be open on foot to any citizen who is not a football fan.