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Private motorized vehicle mobility in Barcelona and the Eixample: Social use, modal shift, and impacts on local commerce

Year of relationship: 2022

Team:

• Núria Pérez (direction)
• Xavier Bach
• Núria Pérez
• Samuel Nel·lo
• Paolo Chevalier
• Núria Ruiz (statistical support)
• Manel Pons (statistical support)
• Raúl Morcillo (statistical support)
• Jorge Cátedra (fieldwork supervision)
• José Luís Flores (fieldwork supervision)
• Institut Opinòmetre (fieldwork)

Institution: Ajuntament de Barcelona

Background and Motivation of the Study:

In the Barcelona metropolitan area, the impacts of daily private motorized vehicle travel are well known: worsening air quality, noise, accidents, occupation and appropriation of public space, high energy consumption, etc. All of these, to varying degrees, negatively affect public health and urban well-being.

In Barcelona specifically, over 1.6 million trips are made daily by private vehicles, excluding those related to urban freight distribution, emergency services, other urban services, taxi drivers, and professionals who require frequent travel. Of these trips, 0.7 million are internal within the city (44% of total private vehicle mobility), while 0.9 million connect with other territories (56% of total private vehicle mobility). Although, in relative terms, private vehicles account for a smaller modal share compared to active transport and public transport, in absolute numbers, the sheer volume of motorized traffic creates significant negative impacts on residents and city users. The city’s central role within the metropolitan area, combined with its high population and vehicle density, results in a volume of private vehicle trips that exceeds what its urban infrastructure can accommodate.

For this reason, Barcelona has long implemented mobility policies aimed at shifting towards more sustainable and healthier transportation modes to counteract the negative effects of motorized traffic. However, introducing certain policies—particularly those that directly or indirectly restrict or complicate private vehicle travel—is not always straightforward. In this context, Barcelona City Council’s Superblocks Program, designed to enhance urban livability and reclaim public space for residents, has been subject to public, media, and political debate. This debate often focuses more on the restrictions imposed on private vehicle mobility than on the benefits for pedestrians and public transport users or the advantages of expanding public space for social interactions and green urban areas that foster social cohesion.

This discussion has intensified recently with the planned Superilla Barcelona initiative, which will significantly transform several streets in the Eixample district and create new public squares. A key point of contention is the potential negative impact on private vehicle users and urban commerce.

Given this context, Barcelona City Council seeks to deepen its understanding of private vehicle users in the city and the Eixample, as well as their daily mobility patterns. This analysis aims to determine, for example, whether restrictive policies targeting private vehicle use affect all social groups equally. Additionally, it will assess the feasibility of shifting current private vehicle users to more sustainable and healthier transportation alternatives.

Finally, the study focuses on mobility related to local commerce in the Eixample, examining the role of private vehicles in commercial mobility and the perceptions of customers and business owners regarding policies that encourage modal shift, particularly within the framework of the planned Superblocks Program in the Eixample.

 

Objectives of the study:

• Quantify the daily mobility of people using private motorized vehicles in relation to overall city mobility.
• Characterize private vehicle mobility based on descriptive factors such as trip purpose, route type, duration, and time distribution.
• Identify different social profiles of private vehicle users.
• Determine which portion of current private vehicle trips could have viable, more sustainable, and healthier alternatives, and propose potential modal shift scenarios based on user profiles.
• Analyze the relationship between urban planning, mobility, and commerce in Barcelona.
• Assess the mobility habits and perceptions of driver-customers in the Eixample concerning upcoming urban mobility initiatives.
• Understand the needs of Eixample businesses regarding customer and goods accessibility by private vehicle (based on different intervention areas and commercial typologies) and their perceptions of planned urban transformations in the district.

 

Download:

• Report of Private motorized vehicle mobility in Barcelona and the Eixample: Social use, modal shift, and impacts on local commerce