Improvements to make the bus service more efficient and accessible

Changes to the bus service to make it more efficient, accessible and competitive, offering a more pleasant user experience. This year will see the on-demand bus service extended to more neighbourhoods, the creation of a semi-direct service connecting the city centre with Glòries and Francesc Macià, and a revamp to services in the north of Nou Barris.

11/05/2021 17:37 h

Ajuntament de Barcelona

The on-demand bus service launched in the neighbourhood of Torre Baró as part of the Neighbourhood Plan offers a service which is more personalised (each user requests where and when they want to travel), speedier and more efficient (the bus does not operate if there is no demand), with shorter waiting times at bus-stops.

Following its positive results, the service will be extended in the last quarter of 2021 to low-demand routes around the neighbourhood bus network.

  • Horta-Guinardó: line 135.
  • Sarrià – San Gervasi: lines 118 and 128.
  • Ciutat Vella: lines 120 and 121.

The service will be extended to five more areas in 2022.

The city’s first semi-direct service

The new bus line has four stops and will provide a speedy connection between the city centre, Pl. Francesc Macià and Pl. Glòries. The journey time from Francesc Macià to Glòries will be ten minutes, with buses passing every eight minutes. Besides offering a faster service, the new semi-direct line will help with connections to other means of public transport such as the metro and the tram system. The service comes into operation in September and will run between 7 am and 10 pm on working days.

Greater connectivity in the north of Nou Barris

The restructuring of the bus services in the neighbourhoods of Torre Baró, Vallbona and Ciutat Meridiana includes the creation of three new lines (180, 182 and 183), plus changes to line 62. The on-demand bus service in Torre Baró will also be extended.

Boosting the sustainability of the service

The roadmap for adopting green energy entails the purchase of 210 electric battery-powered vehicles, 46 hydrogen vehicles and 154 hybrid gas vehicles between 2021 and 2024. In addition, three mainline bus lines (H16, H12 and V15) are set to be fully electric in the short term.

The goal is for electric vehicles to account of for 50% of the TMB fleet by 2030, with the rest using renewable or low-emission forms of energy such as compressed natural gas, biogas or green hydrogen.

More information and accessibility

The functions of the TMB app have also been extended recently, with smart tags at all bus-stops to facilitate travel for people with visual impairment, and the direct credit card payment method for single tickets also at the internal testing stage.

More bus lanes

To help towards the quality of journeys and passenger comfort, as well as avoiding breakdowns, some 3,000 square metres of bus lanes are to be resurfaced. This action comes in addition to work carried out in the last two years in over twenty streets, to create, extend or improve bus lanes.

 

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