The way you move around is a decisive factor in people’s quality of life. So moving around sustainably helps improve air quality and the fight against pollution..
Check all the mobility options for your daily journeys, there are plenty to choose from, and opt for the most sustainable one. It’ll be easier on your pocket and better for your health. Yours and everybody’s.
Public transport
Getting around on collective public transport minimises pollutant emissions and the use of public space. If you go by train, tram or use the metro, there is no pollution and mobility is highly efficient in terms of energy, with fast and frequent services along tracks which are exclusive to them. By bus you’ve got over a 100 routes available to you, 28 of them fast, high-performance services which take you all round the city, and metropolitan services to connect you to neighbouring municipalities.
On foot and by bicycle
Whenever you move around on foot or by bike you are helping to make the air cleaner and healthier, as well as keeping public space clear. Barcelona has over 1,000 km of roadway for cycling, including segregated bike lanes, roads with 30 km/h speed limits and kerbless streets. It also has a public bike-sharing service (Bicing), with 7,000 bikes and more than 400 push-bike and electric bike stations all around the city.
T-verda
A ticket providing free public transport for a period of three years, aimed at registered residents in the area covered by Barcelona's Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM) who demonstrate that they have recently scrapped a polluting vehicle and promise not to buy another during the validity of the T-Verda ticket. A measure to encourage drivers to withdraw polluting vehicles from the roads.
Share vehicles and combine their use with public transport
If you have no choice but to use a private vehicle, use one that pollutes as little as possible. Whenever possible, combine the use of a private vehicle with other forms of transport during your journey or share the vehicle with other users, in order to reduce pollutant emissions into the air we breathe as much as possible. There are various car parks available in metropolitan urban areas that allow you to combine your car journey with public transport.
And remember that in the event of an atmospheric pollution episode due to high contamination levels with traffic restrictions, this is activated:
T-aire
This multi-person ticket, valid in the six metropolitan hubs, includes two integrated journeys, during high-pollution episode with traffic restrictions. Both of them must be used on the same day. It costs the same as two journeys using a normal T-10 ticket, and it is available in all automatic vending machines run by public transport operators: Catalan Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat (FGC) railways, TMB and Tram.
Increased services during high-pollution episode with traffic restrictions
During high-pollution episode with traffic restrictions, public transport available in Barcelona’s metropolitan area will be increased by 10%, to foster a more sustainable mobility. For a city without fumes.
Get around sustainably
The way you get around is reflected in your health and the health of the people around you. Choose fume-free mobility. You and everyone else wins. It is estimated that one third of new cases of childhood asthma, 10% of cases of lung cancer, three out of every ten strokes and hundreds of premature deaths are attributable to air pollution. If you get around on foot, by bicycle and on public transport, your health and everyone else's benefits.
Related Links
Public subsidies and incentives for sustainable mobility
Help with purchasing low-emission vehicles; discounts on taxes, tolls and other mobility-linked charges; support for vehicle fleets.
- Discounts on mechanically powered vehicle tax (IVTM) of up to 75%
- Free regulated parking on roads (Green Area) and free charging at electric vehicle charging stations
- Incentives to buy alternative energy vehicles aimed at the transport sector (taxi, goods transport) and for private use
- Registration tax (vehicles for people with disabilities, vehicles with over 9 places, among others)
- Discounts in tolls along the Generalitat's highways
- Access to Bus-VAO lanes
Active cities against pollution
Defining special protection zones, where the use of the most polluting vehicles is restricted, is a measure linked to mobility and people's health that has been in force in other major European cities for years, including London, Paris, Berlin and, more recently, Madrid. More than two hundred European cities in ten countries now have defined zones where measures to safeguard people's health are implemented.