Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

The arrival of the festive season brings the start of a plan to ensure safety, mobility, cleaning and coexistence across the city. The main goals are looking after people, the flow of transport and keeping festive celebrations free of incidents.

To this end, various territorial and municipal services are being coordinated from now until 7 January, with more resources mobilised in the neighbourhoods, particularly around commerce and the busiest areas.

Safe festivities

The City Police are allocating 424 officers (16% more than last year) to step up police presence around shopping areas, Christmas fairs, tourist areas and places where large volumes of people gather. Patrols with unformed police will be increased in these areas, combining with officers from the Mossos d’Esquadra corps. There will also be more inspections at premises and venues with the largest capacities, where New Year’s Eve parties are planned with large numbers of people attending.

During December and the first week of the year, preventive action will include more breathalyser tests, drug-driving tests and document checks. Similarly, enforcement will focus on potentially dangerous conduct by those driving or riding conventional vehicles or personal mobility vehicles.

Additional mixed patrols between the City Police and the Mossos d’Esquadra corps will also be operating in the districts of Ciutat Vell and Sarrià – Sant Gervasi.

Clean and quiet streets

Cleaning will also be stepped up at the main meeting points around the city as part of the Pla Endreça. The service will be providing an extra 114 workers and 62 cleaning and waste collection vehicles. Civic officers will be on duty in the neighbourhoods too, reporting incidents in public streets and squares and offering general information to members of the public.

Two specific cleaning operations are also planned, one in Ciutat Vella for New Year’s Eve and another for the Three Kings Parade.

As usual, collection points for Christmas trees will be in place from 7 to 17 January.

No let-up with public transport

The metro service will be operating non-stop on Saturday nights and on 31 December. On Fridays and the eve of public holidays, the service will be operating until 2 am, with the exception of 24 December, when services run until 11 pm.

The bus network will be operating its usual timetables, except for Christmas Eve, when the last buses will leave their point of origin at 10 pm. Services running through the centre of Barcelona and other shopping areas will be bolstered on public holidays when shops are allowed to open.

As for the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) train network, services will operate until 11 pm on 24 December, until 2 am on 25 December and until midnight on 26 December. On New Year’s Eve, FGC services will run non-stop through the night.

Works in public streets

Works affecting services anywhere in the district of Ciutat Vella are prohibited over the Christmas period, except for Via Laietana and La Rambla. In the rest of the city, works are prohibited in streets close to shopping hubs, municipal markets, Christmas fairs and other important streets.