The palliative measures arranged at the end of the summer by the government of Mayor Jaume Collboni to mitigate the inconvenience caused by the continuous passage of buses in the neighborhoods of Fort Pienc and Sagrada Família have not yielded results. Despite the fact that the traditionally high moments of the season are behind us, the neighborhood discomfort is getting worse. Smoke, noise, suddenly impassable sidewalks… On any given day, a hundred coaches filled mainly with cruise passengers, and others up to 150, approach this side of the Eixample.
They are the unwanted effects of an economic activity at this fundamental moment in Barcelona. One of the objectives of the last municipal budget proposal of the socialist executive is to put an end to these inconveniences. The associations of residents of these neighborhoods, however, do not see it entirely clear that a new levy is enough to solve these problems. They think that the City Council must take stronger measures when it comes to managing public space. Meanwhile, the conflict does not abate.
Some are fed up with having to make their way through the streets amid floods of visitors, with the boys insisting on going to the toilet without taking anything, with the noise and fumes of the coaches. And the others had never imagined that they would have to walk so far uphill to take a look at the temple, that they would treat so many elderly or disabled people with such inconsideration, that some deranged person would be able to shoot bullets against the moon of his coach…
It’s been a year that the situation in this part of the city has only gotten worse, since the works to join the two tram lines forced the transfer of most of the parking lots to Carrer Consell de Cent and its surroundings for tourist coaches until then arranged on Avinguda Diagonal. And the truth is that the new squares recently enabled by the City Council in front of Plaça de la Monumental in order to decongest this entangled chaos are barely used. Some drivers say that if they park there, so far from the Sagrada Família, cruise passengers complain about the walk, that they prefer to park in the first free parking lot they find, wherever that is… In fact, some drivers don’t mind that passengers get on or off the vehicles in unauthorized places, such as Calle Diputació, where the bus door faces the side of the asphalt.
“It’s that the City Council sends us further and further away, around the Sagrada Família and all the points of interest in the city – says the Professional Association of Tourist Interpreters (, one of the main groups of guides in all life -. Tourists don’t understand that we have to stop so far away. Why can the Tourist Bus stop in front of the Sagrada Família and our coaches can’t? So the only thing the City Council gets is that spread the discomfort and tension. The other day they fired bullets at a coach again. And in November the rate of arrival of cruise ships will decrease, but it will be the turn of other excursions, especially of visitors and schoolchildren who are for Tarragona and they are approaching Barcelona one day. The situation will not change in a sensitive way”.
A banner on a Consell de Cent balcony asks coach drivers to turn off their engines while parked. “Let’s see, I can still see a little, just enough to make my way through the tourists with a stick – explains a local resident who is very involved in this affair and in the neighborhood association -. The problem is that the lack of control is absolute. Here we have sidewalks less than two meters wide with parking spaces for coaches. Not even the cruise liners fit when they disembark! And the City Council has been saying for many months that all this is provisional, even that in July they would find another solution, but the reality is that the problems are festering, everything is getting out of control. The coaches are supposed to have ten minutes for tourists to get on or off, but then they stay parked as long as they want, with the engine running, and generate noise and smoke, so as not to turn off the air conditioning, and some park where the makes you hungry! And the City Council does not impose the sanctions it should. The new district councilor told us at a mid-month meeting that fees and taxes will be going up. And what good is this to the neighbors? They are spoiling the daily life of this neighborhood.”
Jordi Valls, the councilor responsible for the Eixample, is also the deputy mayor for Economy, one of the fathers of the budget proposal of the socialist executive which bets on increasing the tax on cruise ships, among other things. At that meeting there were also representatives of the associations of residents of Fort Pienc and Sagrada Família. Those from Fort Pienc say that they are already preparing a forceful protest action. “He also told us that he would talk to the Urban Guard so that the coaches don’t leave their engines running, but the truth is that we don’t see anything to stop the out of control. This is an oil stain that spreads little by little.”
“Raising taxes on tourist activities will not reduce the number of tourists – the Sagrada Família association intervenes -. Then visitors will come who spend more, but the neighbors will have the same problems. The City Council must manage public space, monitor compliance with its rules, coach parking, the size of tourist groups… The previous government did little to improve the situation, and the new one is doing the same way”.
