Barcelona began the process of digitalizing the movements of its tourist coaches. The goal: to reduce their impact on urban mobility management.
In the first six months of 2023, 33,627 tourist coach operations were recorded in the city, representing a significant increase compared to the same period of the previous year.
In view of this increase, BSM, the public company in charge of parking management for these vehicles, has presented an update of its system, the SPRO application, which allows to request stops at specific points in the city.
The objective of this initiative is to process the information generated by tourist coaches in order to order and predict their movements.
The implementation of the ingenuity called Bus Zone 4.0 is expected to be fully operational by 2025.
This new tool will provide accurate data on the number of coaches stopping in specific tourist areas during specific time slots.
It will also enable drivers to plan their forays into Barcelona by providing up-to-date information on the status of stops, allowing them to better organize their routes.
Benefits of monitoring tourist coach movements
The project seeks to benefit both drivers and the city as a whole.
If coaches can anticipate stop conditions, they could seek alternative destinations at times when a specific stop is congested.
This could result in a more equitable distribution of coaches on the city’s road network, which would have a positive impact on mobility and traffic.
The presentation of this project took place within the framework of the Global Public Transport Summit, an international congress on public transport held in Barcelona.
Albert Sant, head of BSM’s Bus Stations, Bus Zone and SPRO unit, highlighted the possibilities that open up by intelligently managing the data generated by tourist coaches.
The project is also expected to include the installation of smart sensors and license plate readers at bus stops, as well as displays with useful information for drivers and tourists.
About financing
The implementation of the Bus 4.0 Zone will be financed with a budget of one million euros from European Next Generation funds.
This initiative adds to Barcelona’s efforts to cope with the growing number of visitors and to improve the management of tourist mobility in the city.
In addition, it is planned to transform the Nord station into a “hub of tourist mobility in the city”, with the aim of promoting local cultural tourism and contributing to a greater organization and pacification of Barcelona.
The implementation of intelligent technologies and efficient data management will allow for a more balanced distribution of coaches.
