The mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, wanted to put a quick end to the controversy caused this Tuesday by his bike ride along Carrer Avinyó, one of the very streets in the city's old town where the Barcelona City Council has prohibited cycling and scooters, and on the same day as the affair blew up, he admitted the offence and paid a fine of one hundred euros, with his fellow cyclist, the city councillor for sports, David Escudé, doing the same. According to city council sources, "having detected and recognized the infraction, the mayor expressed his willingness to face the penalty and made the payment effective, as did councillor Escudé".
The same sources consulted by ElNacional.cat noted out that "according to Article 71 of the pedestrian and vehicle circulation bylaws, this infringement has a penalty of 100 euros". Paradoxically, the mayor ended up paying a fine for cycling due to the publication of a video in which Collboni was precisely trying to promote this means of transport on the occasion of the celebration, this Monday, of World Bicycle Day, and he was caught out by a ban that came into force in the month of January this year, that is to say, during his own mandate and that of the current municipal government.
Celebrem veure l'alcalde i el regidor (el d’esport, no mobilitat, no ens passem d'optimistes) anant en bici a la feina.
— Barnabici (@bcnbici) June 3, 2024
Ara, resulta curiós q circuli justament per un dels carrers de @Bcn_CiutatVella on feu baixar els ciclistes de la bici, demostrant la incongruència de la norma. https://t.co/zS1UnuKWdz pic.twitter.com/aYMVNMDTrF
"We celebrate that mayor and councillor go by bike to work... but it's odd that that are travelling along precisely one of the streets in Ciutat Vella where cyclists are required to walk their bikes, showing the incongruence of the rule"- Barnabici
Changes in cycle mobility
In parallel to this issue, the Barcelona City Council is working on the modification of some points of the mobility rules for Ciutat Vella, which at the beginning of this year established the obligation for bicycle and electric scooter users to get off and walk their bikes and scooters in twenty-five streets in the district. Municipal sources disconnected this decision to revise the rules from the Collboni controversy and, in fact, already in January, the councillor for the Ciutat Vella district, Albert Batlle, noted that the signage would be reviewed to make modifications, especially in streets, like that of Avinyó, where cars and vans are allowed to pass, albeit during restricted hours.
In any case, the City Council notes that in January it was announced that a review process for the "get off your bike" signs installed began at the beginning of the year in Ciutat Vella, and modifications are now in process for Carrer Avinyó, between Ample and Ferran - where it is planned to lift the ban on cycling - as well as other changes that will affect Carrer Bisbe, Call, Sant Honorat and n'Arai, the passage between Sant Miquel and Sant Jaume places and the descent of Santa Eulàlia, but pointing out that it will not necessarily mean lifting the ban on the circulation of bicycles, but rather, in some cases the signage will be removed and in others it will be altered to clarify the indications, or contradictory signs will be modified. "The proposal is being worked on", they say from the City Council.