How to Fix Barcelona's Bizarre Bicycle Infrastructure - and Connect Their Trams

[@lkawe08]

Honestly i am very surprised no one seems to like the two-way bike lanes in the middle of the road. I spent 10 days commuting on those lanes and really loved it. These lanes avoid cartraffic blocking the route or dangerousturning right and they are very space efficient because you can use the opposite lane for overtaking slower bicycles if traffic is not to busy. Sure lanes could be wider, but they do work even if they are quiet narrow.

[@brianlundlarsen3725]

I am Danish and have cycled in urban environments my whole life. I moved to Barcelona last year and this video really hits my impression of the cycling infrastructure on the spot. There is plenty of it, but it's unsafe, disconnected and confusing. With the current mishmash of lanes, it would almost be better if there was no bike lanes at all, then you'd at least be able to ride at the side of the roads and would know what to expect.

[@GrantSimons2]

I literally just got back from Barcelona yesterday and this really sums up my thoughts. As cool of a city as it is, there's a ton of disconnect happening that decreases the quality of infrastructure.

[@pizzaipinya2442]

They're doing it!! They are finally connecting the trams!!! The "terrain is flat" part... guess you didn't leave the lower eixample and a vit of poblenou xd

[@Deliverygirl]

I've been living in Barcelona for four years now, while I prefer to inline skate instead of cycle I use the same bike lanes every day. Main issues are bike gutters that are far too narrow for comfort and without enough separation from cars. Some one way streets have had an entire lane turned into a bike lane but it's not well indicated and cars often get on this bike lane and honk at cyclists (they get a prompt middle finger from me). A lot of improvement still needs to happen but I love how I can go anywhere I want without even needing to take a bus or subway. Also every month there is an organized cyclist protest on a Friday night called "Masa crítica" (critical mass) to demand better bike infrastructure. I and a few of my inline skater friends like to join in every time. We might have a small friendly rivalry with bikes but in the end we all share the same streets and have one common enemy: cars and car centric design. Thanks for bringing light to all the issues, it's unfortunate that during the pandemic there wasn't a bigger effort to rebuild bike lanes all over the city.

[@sabinelettry8933]

Gracies mil Mikael! Bona faena!

[@MrBaptista]

Yes, Barcelona bike infra is far from perfect, but it was actually responsible for making my switch from car to bicycle, 10 years ago in Lisbon. Went to BCN on a trip, rented a bike to get around town, and I had such a good time that I kept thinking "what if I do that back home in Lisbon?". That thought kept picking my brain, and when I got back, I got a bike and never stoped since. I'm all for perfect infra, but even not so good infra works, and may be the trigger many are waiting for to make the switch.

[@16nine]

Yes, a few will ride. But not any large number. As I've seen all over the world, bad infrastructure does little to boost cycling levels exponentially. Barcelona's levels have been the same for years, with little growth.

[@MrBaptista]

@@16nine couldn’t also be that cheap parking (and number of places available) contribute to people still drive to places? Even residents parking is cheap at 0,20€/day encourages people to keep owing their car. And once you have one, you’ll be prone to use it

[@evehg117]

Every time I ride my bike here in Barcelona, which is everyday, all I can think about is “I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, omfg I’m gonna die and my daughter is going to be without a mom.”

[@Danutzz2010]

I love this channel, it sparked my love for urbanism, but this is an old city, this is old content. Come over for a new video, and the latest updates in Barcelonian urbanism.

[@16nine]

I was just in Barcelona. I go there all the time. Unfortunately, the state of bicycle infrastructure is unchanged. There is more goofy infrastructure. The tram still isn't connected - although they say they have plans, but they've been saying that for a decade. The sad thing is that every video I've done - and the whole TV episode - is still relevant.

[@ClayShentrup]

this is some great urbanism right here my friends.

[@gregvassilakos]

I hope the folks at Copenhagenize/Life-Sized City are talking to people in Athens, Greece. Greece has an excellent climate for cycling. Oil and autos all have to be imported, which is a burden on the country's already-strained economic situation. When I have visited Athens, I have seen no accommodations for cycling except for a feeble attempt to connect some of the downtown tourist sites. When I do a web search, I find mainly cycling infrastructure plans for Athens, Georgia.

[@marcsmsm]

I'm from Barcelona and I live in Copenhagen; and agree with the video. Only thing that is a physical barrier for biking is the steep streets in the northern part of the city, close to the mountain, otherwise it makes total sense to bike from my point of view. That is a big contrast with Copenhagen, which is a totally flat city. Also, we need more public better transport too, in Barcelona, I live in an area where public transport is awful and passes every 30min and takes 40min to arrive to the city due to all the stops on the way, which with a private car or motorcycle takes 5-10min (Sant Just Desvern). I need to use the car there to move around, if I had buses more often and faster I'd definitely not use my car in BCN, that is why I think some people in Barcelona are car dependent, because the public transport infrastructure is not strong enough to support all commutes, hope it will be some day. Also, bike lanes are very narrow and too close from the cars, it is a huge difference with the wide bike lanes in Copenhagen... It is sometimes scary to bike on those. But thanks for dedicating an episode to my beloved city, Barcelona, I appreciate it.

[@LifeSizedCity]

What about all the hilly cities that have bike infrastructure or are building it?

[@marcsmsm]

@@LifeSizedCity i would love if you could make a video regarding that!! Show us how bike infrastructure and bike riding is also feasible in a hilly city. Thanks!! 😊

[@VulpeX2Triumph]

Looks like a giant case study. XD

[@cdamian]

They are starting to connect the lines now

[@16nine]

We'll see how comprehensive the plans end up being. We've heard it ALL over the past decade.

[@cdamian]

@@16nine construction starts on the 7th of March. They hardly can make it worse 😀

[@gregvassilakos]

I was expecting at least passing mention of Barcelona's metro. Barcelona has 148.5 km of metro lines with 187 stations. I suspect the reason bridging the gaps in the tram network is not a priority is because the metro already covers the gaps.

[@16nine]

The metro is mentioned. But tramways are more appropriate in a life-sized city. The existence of the metro is not the reason the City has taken so long to connect the tram. It's been a lack of a majority in city hall and fears of pushback from wealthy residents. That's it.

[@tullinadaly]

@@16nine thankfully they have now fixed the tram issues, now trams will join at the new Glories cross. maybe a new video about changes in Glories.

[@jonathanravenhilllloyd2070]

Sorry, when was this made? The city council has come to an agreement on how to layout Diagonal to join the two regions of the tram network.

[@16nine]

The Barcelona episode from where this clip was taken is from a couple of years ago, yes. There are plans now - FINALLY - after talking about it for more than a decade. Last I heard was they would shorten the gap between the two tram lines. I can see there are more concrete plans on the City's website, but let's see what they actually do.

[@vaiyaktikasolarbeam1906]

alright they need to connect the two line ASAP

[@framegrace1]

Trams are not connected because no one will use them. That middle section has no internal traffic (is all residential), and to go to one side to another is faster to go by metro. The two sides connect two neighboring cities that had very bad public connections and the tram was the perfect solution for the length of the ride and because there were wide streets to accomodate it. You take the tram until the metro station, and go anywhere in Barcelona from there. That said, they are actually doing it, with everyone in opposition, to simply make cars life more difficult.... And that's OK, but if that's your inner motive, just remove lanes, close intersections and make it walk and bike friendly. But no need to spend milions on a tram which no one will use...

[@pizzaipinya2442]

All studies on the matter say ridership will increase (in some scenarios almost double) with the connection. What's better, taking the Tram and 1 or 2 metro lines or only Tram and maximum 1 metro line? People will use it more. Even more, by modifying the bus routes throught the Diagonal (which are collapsed by the way) you could boost ridership. Oh, and saying there's no demand is simply stupid: what about the bus n°7?

[@Cl0ckcl0ck]

You learn from your mistakes. Barcelona will get there because there is the will to improve.

[@LifeSizedCity]

I've heard that from the politicians for years. Still just a theory. ;-)