The vaporetto finally arrives safely. This Wednesday, the board of directors of the port of Barcelona awarded the Alsa group the new and long-awaited nautical bus service that, starting July 1, will link the Drassanes and Levante docks, the Rambla promenade and the Barceloneta neighborhood.
It is a direct connection largely intended to alleviate some of the summer stress suffered by the most seafaring neighborhood in Barcelona. In this way, the port proposes a shortcut over the Mediterranean that brings the center closer to Nova Bocana, one of the last poles of attraction in Barcelona. One of the stops of the new service will be at the Portal de la Pau, next to the moorings where the Golondrinas have always been caught, and the other at the new maritime station, very close to the W hotel and its renovated surroundings.
Thus, people who go down Plaza Catalunya and Rambla on the way to Barceloneta and this new side of the city will be able to avoid having to walk along the Paseo de Colom and Paseo de Joan de Borbó. This axis of Barceloneta seems congested as soon as the bathing season starts. And the buses come and go always crowded. The new port service must be much more than a mere tourist attraction.
In truth, this idea has been around for a few years now. The association of neighbors and merchants Amics de la Rambla already proposed it back in 2012. It’s been so long since then that the term with which this initiative was baptized at the time is completely obsolete. In these times, the vaporetto thing does not exactly sound sustainable. Furthermore, his reminiscences of Venice do not mesh well with the latest sensibilities either. The “nautical bus” thing seems much more appropriate.
As port sources detailed yesterday, one of the fundamental points of this award is that the new service is completely sustainable, that the emissions of the vessels in question are equal to zero, that these vessels ply the waters of the Barcelona coast equipped with a propulsion system using solar panels or hydrogen and also with a connection to the electrical grid.
Furthermore, during this couple of decades and peak of waiting, after two terms of Mayor Colau, the distrust of many citizens towards this type of initiatives also grew abundantly. For some time now, there are many who believe that these types of services can feed the externalities and unwanted effects of tourism. The port, however, wants to overcome these reluctance and that the people of Barcelona are not alien to this project, that its nautical bus is much more than a diversion for visitors.
The new service will be provided for at least twelve hours a day by at least a couple of boats, and each of them will have capacity for about 70 passengers. The maximum price of the single ticket will be 1.90 euros, much cheaper than a single metro or bus ticket on the Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) network, which is currently worth 2.55 euros.
The port also plans to offer nautical bus users subscriptions for ten trips and for two and 30 days, as well as discounts for children, young people and also seniors. The uses that citizens ultimately make of the projects that are drawn on paper are often a great surprise. In any case, everything indicates that at least during its first weeks this new mode of transportation will attract a crowd of grandparents and grandchildren holding hands.
The concession has a duration of 15 years, and the successful bidder will make an initial investment of 1,872,000 euros in the two vessels and in the corresponding refurbishments of the maritime station and the Portal de la Pau stop.
