Travel Diaries: Barcelona

Having left Singapore, the next stop on my trip was Barcelona. I am normally the kind of person who does an obsessive amount of research on the public transport options before I go somewhere, but for this trip I decided to keep that to a minimum, so that - as much as practical - I could experience it firsthand and see how easy and intuitive it was for the uninformed visitor.

A side note - I was quite sick for most of my time in Barcelona (top tip: don't eat the food in Doha airport) so I unfortunately didn't get to see as much as I'd have liked. It also probably coloured my perceptions of the city a bit - but given how ratshit tired it made me, it probably helped highlight some of the accessibility issues.

The slower circuitous metro line vs the faster direct regional line

From the airport, there are two railway lines that take you into the city: a commuter/regional line, which is fast, direct and has only a few stops; and a metro line, which is slower, zigzags back and forth a lot, and required a change to another metro train to get to my destination. From the small amount of planning I did, I'd intended to take the faster option - but in my tired, jetlagged state I just followed the train-shaped signs and ended up getting on the metro. A bit of further research after the fact tells me that there are two train stations in the same terminal, quite close to each other - one for each operator. So going for the wrong one is an easy mistake to make.

The lesson for Melbourne, I suppose, is that it's definitely beneficial to have multiple public transport connections to the airport - so that people can access it quickly and easily from multiple parts of the city - but it helps to coordinate them into a single station, and clearly signpost which platforms will get you where. We could conceivably have direct Airport-City Line, Suburban Rail Loop, and V/Line regional trains all calling at the airport in the next few decades, so it'll be important to make things really clear to locals and jetlagged visitors alike. On the plus side, the infrastructure won't be controlled by different transport operators or levels of government, it'll all be delivered by the state government - so if they get the planning right, it should be relatively easy to ensure the end result is very legible to new arrivals.

Espanya Metro station

Travelling around on the metro - both on the night I arrived and over the next few days - the thing that jumped out at me most was how outdated it seemed. The fundamentals are good - there's a high density of routes, so you can go to anywhere from anywhere using the trains. And the frequencies are pretty good too - I don't think I waited more than 10 minutes for a train at any point, and it was usually considerably less.

But the stations all seem very old, and in need of an update. None of the stations I used (except the airport station) were at all accessible - not only were lifts very thin on the ground, but escalators were pretty rare too. So often getting down to the platform and back up to street level required long walks up and down staircases - something I normally have no problem with, but grumble at when in Mediterranean heat, and especially when carrying heavy bags (or recovering from illness). If I had an actual permanent mobility issue, the metro network would be completely unusable.

Train at Sagrada Familia station

The trains themselves are airconditioned, and the aircon seemed to hold up quite well to the ambient heat - but the stations aren't airconditioned, and the old trains throw off a lot of heat in those tunnels. It's no good when you head underground to seek respite from the sun outside, and you end up sitting on a platform that's even hotter.

Out of interest, their ticketing system is also pretty ancient - less advanced than Metcard was, even. There are automated barriers for checking into a station, but not for checking out - it's literally just a metal gate that only swings one way. Fare evading would be child's play...not that it particularly bothers me, but I have to assume it bothers the people that collect the fares. The fare options also seem relatively limited, but I got a 5-day unlimited-ride ticket for the time I was there, which served me well (or it would have if I hadn't gotten sick).

Some of the architecture in Eixample

Something that Barcelona is famous for, and one of the things I was most looking forward to seeing, is its "Superilles" (Superblocks). This is a walkability (and more generally livability) initiative that was started a few years ago; much of Barcelona consists of a very simple grid pattern, and the idea is to take a 3x3 group of blocks, and cut off the internal roads to through-traffic. Walkers and cyclists can still pass through, and local traffic can still come in for deliveries or for residents to park - but any through motor traffic needs to go around the outside of the Superblock.

The Superblock concept (via Matteo Della Torre)

One of the main drivers behind this initiative was to reduce the noise and localised pollution from motor traffic, to improve the health of residents - and it has apparently achieved that - but the other big outcome is that it creates a lot of open public space, where people can hang out, kids can play, and there can be more public life. The thing is, though, at this early stage only a few Superilles have been implemented - yet so much of Barcelona is already really walkable and lively. I'm not in any way questioning the need for the Superilles to be implemented city-wide, to take it further - but there's already a lot to love. (Indeed that's one reason it needs to be taken further - some areas are so successful in attracting walkers that there's not enough room on the footpaths, so they need to reclaim some space from cars).

Don't get me wrong - there is often quite a lot of traffic on the major roads, and it's a bit pedestrian-hostile to cross some of them. But whether it's Eixample, where the Superilles program started; or walking down La Rambla, or around Sants where my hotel was, there's also a lot of narrow, quieter cobblestoned streets, where cars travel slowly and people can mill about; and plaças with cafes and restaurants, and people spilling out onto tables and chairs with their meals...it's really very vibrant and alive. The point, I guess, is that if you are the kind of person who wants to go somewhere with vibrant streets for your holidays, you don't need to wait for the Superilles - it's already really good. The Superilles are just going to make it better.

I'm really disappointed that I was sick while I was in Barcelona, because it is an absolutely gorgeous place and I would have loved to sit around some of those plaças in the warm evening air, eating seafood and drinking beer. All the more reason to go back, I guess!

For anyone interested in the Superilles idea, David Roberts from Vox has done a five-part deep dive into Barcelona's Superilles, looking both at the urbanism and the political fights around it - I'd highly recommend it. 

For those wondering about the outcome of the elections he mentions, Colau is still mayor.