Tourists and coaches: the sector lashes out at Collboni for limiting access to the city center

BarcelonaBus and coach companies that transport tourists to Barcelona refuse to relinquish their right to operate right into the heart of the city. And this Tuesday morning, they made their position abundantly clear to the Collboni administration. The sector has expressed its outright rejection of the new Bus Zone 4.0 being designed by the City Council, which aims to reorganize and restrict the flow of tourist coaches in the center of the Catalan capital. Several companies and associations took advantage of the sector's fifth annual meeting, organized by the employers' association FECAV, to voice their discontent with this measure, promoted by the Tourism Department, which directly impacts mobility. "Unfair," "unrealistic," and "impoverishing": this is how professionals have described this initiative, which has already begun to reorganize the space, stops, and methods by which this sector can enter and circulate within the Catalan capital to transport its clients to the city's main points of interest. Among other measures, the Bus Zone 4.0 aims to eliminate bus stops in the city center, limit their operating hours, and require coach companies to take reservations to prevent the accumulation of vehicles and tourists in any one area. "The sector is suffering and things are getting worse; but we still have hope that it can be drastically reformed," declared Miquel Àngel Díez, vice president of the Professional Association of Tourist Guides of Catalonia. Díez made this statement in response to the City Council representative, Lídia Torres, Director of Mobility Services for Barcelona, ​​who, in her turn to speak, asserted that "the city is finite and needs order, and the model we had until now no longer works." "We have tourist coaches driving around without any organization," Torres declared before nearly 200 professionals from the coach sector. The head of municipal Mobility also insisted that change is necessary: ​​"A new urban model is needed." "We don't want to restrict, but rather reorganize, and both residents and tourists will appreciate that," Torres tried to explain, although that didn't reassure the attendees, who maintain that there are still "too many uncertainties" about this new model.

Limitations and "unfair competition"

"The city council documents explicitly mention limiting the number of coaches, and if there are fewer tourist coaches, what will happen, among other things, is that tourists will go to the city's tourist bus, and that's unfair competition," continued Díez, who was also participating in the discussion. The sector criticized both the reduction in designated stops and the new organizational systems, asserting that they are already causing traffic jams that "didn't exist before." "Until now, the sector has self-regulated, but now we have 30 fewer places to stop, and that's a problem created by the city council itself," criticized the representative of the tour guides. Other companies in the sector insisted that the measure "won't yield any positive results" and suggested that "in the long run, the city council will have to modify it." "Changes always generate resistance," summarized Torres, who continued to defend the measure, arguing that it is irreversible because it addresses one of Barcelona's biggest challenges: making tourists—who numbered over 15.6 million last year, 15% more than the previous year—coexist with the residents who have lived there. "We want tourism, but we have to do it better," said the city representative, who remained firm that the sector "will have to get used to the new model." "This way we'll have less congestion, less waiting, and less fuel consumption because we won't have coaches driving around aimlessly," she reiterated.

Digitalization and artificial intelligence

During the event, held at the Casa de la Convalecencia within the modernist complex of the Hospital de Sant Pau, another of the sector's outstanding issues was also addressed: digitalization and the incorporation of artificial intelligence in a business world predominantly made up of family businesses that, until now, have lacked dedicated professionals or departments. Embracing AI will require these companies to retrain, delve into the world of law and data protection regulations, and professionalize their teams. "We can't install GPS and record passengers' faces with imaging devices without having all the legal aspects covered," explained lawyer Sonia Gracia, a technology expert. The president of the employers' association FECAV, José Maria Chavarría, emphasized that the introduction of the latest technologies will entail "a significant initial cost," but that it will help companies become more competitive. That's why he took the opportunity to call for a stable and lasting legal framework. "We've given them the work that's coming our way," a group of industry executives concluded at the end of the event.