"Every day is a scavenger hunt": 24 hours with the drivers of Barcelona's busiest tourists

BarcelonaThe buses that go up to Park Güell are one of the places that best portray the difficulties of coexistence between residents and tourists in Barcelona. However, in this struggle, there is a third, often invisible actor: the drivers. ARA has accompanied several professionals who drive or have recently driven vehicles on lines V19 and 24, two of the most crowded in the city. A trip that, those interviewed point out, is often a lottery.

"Let's see what we find today." Marcos greets us with this resigned comment as we board his bus. His name, like that of all the drivers who appear in this report, is fictitious because they have requested anonymity. We board at the stop closest to the Arc de Triomf and, although there are already people standing at driver's height, Marcos explains that the situation is quite good. "Today, still," he says, explaining that in recent days TMB has reinforced the line to increase service frequency and reduce the pressure on each vehicle.

Soon more people board, and Marcos uses one of the device's various programmed messages, which ask passengers to move to the end of the vehicle. He has others, such as one that asks them to respect the seats reserved for the elderly, pregnant women, and people with reduced mobility, or one that asks them to please leave enough space for the doors to close. He will have to use them several times during the journey. And often, it won't be enough.

"More than once, I've had to stop the vehicle to ask them to listen to me," confesses Sergi, who has worked on line 24 for a decade. He laments that, in addition to the responsibility that driving a bus entails, they often also have to act as security guards. "When they get on at Plaça Catalunya, I already warn them that if they don't have an advance ticket, they won't be able to access Parc Güell, but they still want to get on," he explains.

"We also often have to act as mediators," notes Manel, who admits that coexistence between neighbors who want to get home and tourists who want to go up to Park Güell or the Bunkers is not easy. "Many times I leave Barceloneta beach and I'm already full because a couple of tourist groups have gotten on. Then at the Arc de Triomf a few get off, but I'm soon back to being full of people going to Park Güell or the Carmel bunkers. Every now and then there are stops where I can't get passengers," he explains.

This creates delays, nerves, and tension among passengers, as local residents often protest when they see they can't get on the vehicle, a tourist won't give up their seat for an elderly person, or a ticket won't be validated. Drivers explain that this discomfort ultimately affects them. "You're the one who gets hit, because in the end, you're the one who takes the fall," explains Joel, who a few years ago also had to drive the 24. "It's constant suffering."

The lines no one wants

This is corroborated by Eduard, who, after a few years on the V19, has been driving another line with less tourist pressure for some time now. When the so-called "chosen ones" arrive every two years—the process by which TMB drivers can request a change of line—the 24 and V19 are usually the last to be chosen. "On these lines, every day is a scavenger hunt," explains Sergi.

This means, according to the drivers interviewed, that these buses often end up being driven by novice drivers, people who have been with the company for the least amount of time. A phenomenon that, they point out, is even more common on weekends, precisely the days when both lines suffer the most. "They have a hard time because they already start the day knowing that they will have a hell of a day," says Eduard, who emphasizes that each day a driver is in charge of the bus for between seven and eight hours.

"This used to be only during the summer months, but now it's all year round," says Marcos, who, with the bus almost full, already climbs the upper part of Passeig de Sant Joan, where he now uses the recorded message announcing a route change. This summer, added to the usual obstacles on the line are the works to replace the pavement of Passeig Pi i Margall, which forces buses to make a detour around Ronda del Guinardó, wasting a considerable amount of time.

It's easy to see that most of the passengers who fill the buses on this line go to Parc Güell. Upon reaching the stop closest to the park entrance, the vehicle empties. Across the street, a bus on line 24 descending toward the city center experiences the reverse: the queue to get on forces the vehicle to remain at the stop for a long time, and when it starts, it's already packed as an egg.

The TMB and City Council's measures

At this point, Marcos also encounters an additional problem that drivers and residents have been reporting for some time. The relocation of the taxi rank from the La Salut neighborhood to the Carretera del Carmel, next to the Can Baró neighborhood, where the bus parking lot is already located, causes traffic jams and conflicts, as buses and taxis often park at the bus stop, forcing vehicles on lines 24 and V19 to deviate from their route. A problem that the City Council has now committed to address. correct after residents blocked access to Parc Güell for several hours on several consecutive weekends.

This isn't the only measure that both the city council and TMB have recently taken to try to improve the situation on the 24 line and especially the V19 line. On the latter, eight more vehicles have been added to the line on weekends and public holidays, which for a few hours make two different routes between the Alfons X and Vallcarca metro stops, and between Passeig de Sant Joan and Còrsega and Barceloneta.

Drivers on these two lines, however, point out that this is insufficient and ask for more information staff at the stops to help manage tourists, thus reducing the time the vehicles have to be stopped. They point out, for example, the possibility of TMB assigning former drivers who are currently in offices to these types of functions and who, they say, could be more useful doing this work on the street.