barcelona's metro

The Barcelona Metro is on strike today, Monday, which means that service is reduced to a minimum between 7 and 9 am, 4 and 6 pm, and from 8:30 to 10:30 pm. The Barcelona Metro strike began this morning after the negotiation of the collective bargaining agreement between the unions and the Metro board. The first visible signs of the conflict were the crowds on the metro platforms and in the metro trains, which increased from 7 o’clock on. The strike had previously been announced and the passengers who had heard about it had advanced their travel schedule to prevent delays.

Barcelona’s main airport should be finally connected by underground railway by February 2016, after years of accumulated delays due to the economic crisis. Works in the stretch of the Line 9 that will connect Barcelona El Prat Airport with the rest of the metro network were completed months ago and now trains have started to circulate to run functioning trials. According to the announced schedule, passengers should be able to use this service as of February 2016, in time for the Mobile World Congress, which is the main event of the mobile phone industry at world level, which takes place each year in Barcelona. The Catalan Minister for Territory and Sustainability, Santi Vila, also announced that passengers travelling to and from the airport by metro will have an additional fee on top of the regular underground tariff. However the fee’s amount has not been announced yet. 

40 municipalities in Barcelona's Metropolitan Area, are to half the price of public transport during incidents of high air pollution. This is part of a Catalan Government plan for the improvement of air quality with the goal to fight climate change, affecting 4.3 million people. The main objective of the plan is to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and of particle matter less than 10 microns in diameter (PM10). The plan also includes the promotion of rail travel and increasing highway tolls and the fares of municipal parking within these areas by 25% on polluted days. In addition, there will be tax breaks for those industries achieving lower emissions. The measures are aimed at the mobility of people and goods, industrial activity, and citizens’ habits.

On Friday early morning the 10km metro tunnel of Barcelona that links Universitat and Gorg stations became the track of the second edition of Discovery Underground. This is the only urban underground race in the world going through the centre of big cities and it is an original idea of the Spanish television channel Discovery MAX. 300 men and women with background stories that assimilate the channel's premise "ordinary people living extraordinary experiences" ran for about 1.45h, with the first two people arriving at the minute 39. 2014 Discovery Underground Barcelona marks the beginning of the celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the Metro of Barcelona.

Xarxa, an initiative launched by Barcelona's City Council and the Catalan Government in July 2011 to combat petty theft on Barcelona's metro, has managed to reduce criminal activity by 34% in 3 years. Between June 2013 and June 2014, 17,156 robberies that took place in the underground rail network were reported by travellers. This represents a significant improvement from the 26,130 reported crimes in 2011, out of 389 million journeys that were taken on the metro that year.  This drop of criminal activity – mostly pickpocketing – has been due to the success of the combined pressure from the Catalan and Barcelonan local police forces, known as the Mossos d'Esquadra and Guàrdia Urbana respectively. Just 100 repeat offenders are responsible for the 4,417 arrests and 3,181 charges from pickpocketing on the Barcelona's metro. 18 of these criminals have been totally banned from entering the underground rail network.

Barcelona's Metro L2 will be affected by renovation work from next Monday the 4th of August till Sunday the 24^th of August. The stretch between Passeig de Gràcia and Clot metro stations will be closed due to the improvement of the railway's mechanical condition. According to the Catalan Ministry of Planning and Sustainability, the partial suspension of the metro service was planned for this August in order to minimise disruptions to travellers, since during this period the demand for urban mobility is lower. However, during the closure of the affected L2 stretch, other public transport alternatives will be provided to customers.

FC Barcelona will contribute 30,000 euros to subsidise part of the cost of extending the metro’s operational hours in order to guarantee public transport to and from the Camp Nou for the Spanish Super Cup featuring Barça and Atlético Madrid. The football match will start at 11pm on Wednesday 28th August and will not finish until 1am. Barcelona’s underground transportation ends at midnight on weeknights and the Mayor had requested the Spanish Football federation (RFFE) to reschedule the match to an earlier time. However the RFFE refused and Barcelona’s Mayor, Xavier Trias, warned that they would not prolong the metro’s operational hours, with each extra hour costing around 30,000 euros.

Police estimate that 150 pickpockets operate daily in the Catalan capital’s underground, smart phones being the main target. The way the pickpockets target their victims has changed, no longer operating in large groups meaning that they are more “discreet and difficult to stop”. The police report that pickpockets are mainly “recurrent” and mainly come from South America, North Africa and Romania. The situation is evolving in a positive way, with crime rates in Barcelona’s metro decreasing for the second consecutive year.

The L3 will be extended and pass by Sant Just, Esplugues, Sant Joan d’Espí and Sant Feliu. The construction could start in 2012 or 2013 and the service will not be ready until 2015 or 2016.

About 50 people have been detained in two major police operations in Barcelona?s subway since May. Minor robberies have been a constant problem in the few last years.