More than 4,300 pavements without motorcycles: Barcelona expands the stretches where parking is prohibited

BarcelonaIt will become increasingly difficult to park a motorcycle on the pavement in Barcelona. This, at least, is the aim of the City Council, which hopes that in the future the vast majority of vehicles of this type will park on the road. The objective, explained this Monday the first deputy mayor, Laia Bonet, is that the pavements "are mainly pedestrianised". To achieve this, the councillor has admitted that it is necessary to "impress a change of culture" among motorcyclists and that little by little the idea that a motorcycle can be used to go from door to door is abandoned. "One stage of the journey will necessarily have to be on foot", she stressed.

This strategy includes some of the new features of the new mobility ordinance that only came into force on 1 February. The text is more restrictive regarding the places where motorcycles can be parked and explicitly includes the prohibition of spaces adjacent to bicycle parking, pedestrian crossings, bicycle lanes and when the use of containers is obstructed. Also in the entrances to schools, institutes and hospitals.

Regarding this last restriction, he wanted to speak specifically about Bonet. Since mid-February until today, the new signs prohibiting parking have already been installed in front of 59 schools and 12 hospitals. Before the end of the year, they will have been installed in another 245 places. In total there are 325 facilities – 296 schools and 29 hospitals – where since February 1 it is no longer possible to park motorcycles on the sidewalk.

With these new prohibitions, according to data from the City Council, Barcelona will end the year with 4,300 stretches of pavement where, for one reason or another, there will be signs prohibiting parking motorcycles. Of these, 1,000 will have been installed during this term. A figure to which we must add all the single-platform streets or those where the pavements are less than three metres wide and, therefore, it is prohibited to park motorcycles without the need to put up some sign indicating it.

More spaces on the road

This is a scenario that shows that it will be increasingly difficult to park a motorcycle on the sidewalk in the city. To compensate for this, Bonet explained that new parking spaces are being created for motorcycles on the road near those sidewalks where parking is prohibited. The City Council plans to be able to generate 700 new ones in these areas alone. The Urban Mobility Plan, in fact, foresees that before 2030, 40,000 new spaces for motorcycles will have been created on the road. Bonet also pointed out that the city's parking network must be an ally in this race to get motorcycles off the sidewalk.

To educate motorcyclists, the City Council will still keep the information campaign that it launched some time ago to explain the changes in the mobility ordinance running for a few days. In addition, the Guardia Urbana will continue to impose fines wherever there are violations. In January and February, 717 fines were filed for motorcycles parked illegally on the sidewalk, while in 2024 a total of 4,152 were filed. Fines range from 50 to 100 euros.