Public transport is gaining ground in Greater Barcelona, but private vehicles remain the first choice.

BarcelonaFrom Monday to Friday, nearly 3.6 million daily trips are made on public transport throughout the Barcelona area. The report highlights that public transport has already recovered, and even surpassed, pre-pandemic levels, especially during the morning rush hours. It remains well above the levels associated with sustainable mobility. However, despite the record, public transport represents just over 18% of total trips, and new users have only grown by 1.1% compared to the previous year. Private or other means.

The most used mode of transport has been the metro, with a 6.2% share, especially in the city of Barcelona and its main metropolitan area. This is largely explained by discounts on frequently used tickets, such as the T-usual or T-joven, which have encouraged loyalty among regular users, or the free Cercanías service until June 30. These measures have also cost 222 million euros, and have begun to transform: since July 1, Renfe services are no longer completely free and apply a flat rate of 20 euros. Greater dependence on cars outside Barcelona

Dependence on private vehicles increases as one moves away from Barcelonès, where for every 100 car or motorcycle trips, 208 are made using public transport. This proportion drops drastically in regions such as Berguedà, with a ratio of 1 in every 100 trips, or Osona, Moianès, Anoia, and Alt Penedès, where it ranges between 3 and 5 public trips for every 100 private ones. In total, 83.4% of trips within the scope of the Barcelona Integrated Metropolitan Mobility System (SIMMB) on a weekday are made within the same region of residence.

However, the importance of public transport declines when it comes to inter-regional mobility in the entire demarcation, where private vehicles account for 33.5% of trips. In contrast, in the city of Barcelona, cars only account for 16.7%. The director general of the ATM, Manuel Valdés, pointed out that the percentage of rail or road use is proportional to the number of people using them, without implying a difference in incidents between modes of transport.

Regarding safety, public transport users rate their experience with an average of over 7 on a scale of 0 to 10. The perception of insecurity has decreased compared to previous years, especially with regard to robberies and physical and verbal assaults. However, robberies remain the main cause for concern, according to data also collected in previous editions of the survey (2019, 2022, and 2024).