CPB

Corporate Partnership
Board

Public Transport
Governance inGreater Barcelona
Discussion Paper
Frederic Lloveras Minguell
MCRIT, Barcelona

CPB

Corporate Partnership
Board

Public Transport
Governance inGreater Barcelona
Discussion Paper
Frederic Lloveras Minguell
MCRIT, Barcelona

The International Transport ForumThe International Transport Forum is an intergovernmental organisation with 59 member countries. It
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Cite this work as: Lloveras Minguell, F. (2018), “Public Transport Governance in Greater Barcelona”,
Discussion Paper, International Transport Forum, Paris.

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Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to Toni Walton Atela, who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted theresearch and also Andreu Esquius Rafat for comments that greatly improved the manuscript. He would
also like to show his gratitude to Diego Fernandez Belmonte for his guidance on the knowledge of the
AMB functioning that increased the accuracy of the document.

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Table of contents
The scope of the work ............................................................................................................................ 5
The Barcelona metropolitan region and its public transport system ..................................................... 6
Territorial context of the Barcelona metropolitan area .................................................................... 6
The Barcelona metropolitan area inside the integrated fare system in the region ......................... 7
Governance and institutional set up .................................................................................................... 11
The Area Metropolitana de Barcelona and its rationale behind..................................................... 12
The Autoritat del Transport Metropolità (Metropolitan Transport Authority or ATM) ................. 15
Provision of transport services at metropolitan level .......................................................................... 18
The role of the AMB and the ATM in public transport management and granting concessions ... 18
The two types of management of the AMB .................................................................................... 18
Regulation of bus service and type of concessions used ................................................................ 18
Financing the transport system ....................................................................................................... 22
Mechanisms to balance the user benefits and covering the operational and maintenancecosts ................................................................................................................................................. 23
Balancing the income between the different operators ................................................................. 25
Transport investments within the metropolitan area ..................................................................... 25
Strategies for route planning ............................................................................................................... 26
Management and regulation of transport data ................................................................................... 27
Mechanisms to develop and improve existing multi-modal centres ................................................... 28
Measures to encourage sustainable mobility ...................................................................................... 29
Low Emissions Zone ......................................................................................................................... 29
New high-performance metropolitan bus network ........................................................................ 31
T-Mobility card ................................................................................................................................. 31
Notes .................................................................................................................................................... 32
References ........................................................................................................................................... 33

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The scope of the work
The present document provides an overview of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) in thegovernance of transport in the metropolitan region. It identifies the issues related to transport systems
that the AMB deals with, and how it responds to those challenges.
It also attempts to define the institutional set up in the area, and how the different bodies,administrations and operators interact with each other in order to provide effective public transport
services. Financial interrelationship among stakeholders is described, as well as tendering processes,
concessions and types of management and control.
The Integrated Fare System allows most of the metropolitan transport services to establish common
fares and ticketing. This has led to an increase in intermodal trips and an overall rise in public transport
use among the population.
Finally, this study also puts forward the challenges faced by public transport services in the metropolitanarea, and how the AMB has developed strategies to tackle these issues. The present document describes
current practice and also highlights actions that are in the planning or in-progress phase. The measures
herein explained are aimed at improving, among others, the following issues:delivering effective and coordinated bus services at the metropolitan leveloregulation of bus service and type of concessions usedostrategies for route planningomechanisms for striking the good balance between delivering user benefits and covering
operational and maintenance costs, choosing fare structures and ensuring financial
sustainability within the fare integration systemmanagement and regulation of transport datathe importance and management of commuter terminalsmeasures to encourage sustainable mobility.

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The Barcelona metropolitan region and its public
transport system
Territorial context of the Barcelona metropolitan area
A metropolitan area is a territorial, social, demographic, economic and cultural fact that has been
forming over the last century, as a product of the growth and connection of urban systems around thecity of Barcelona. According to OECD’s data from 2014, Barcelona’s is the seventh most populated
metropolitan area in Europe, and the most densely populated.
According to regional data, the metropolitan area in Barcelona is made up by 36 municipalities withmore than 3.2 million inhabitants. This data considers an area which spreads over 636 km2 and has an
occupied surface of 46.5%, mainly located around the central agglomeration, the remaining areas being
predominantly agricultural.
Although the area constitutes just 2% of the Catalan territory, it holds 43% of the Catalan population,
giving way to a high density of inhabitants. Its economic value to the region is emphasised by the factthat it generates half of the GDP in Catalonia.
It should be noted that, when referring to the area in terms of geography, the term “the metropolitanarea” is used, whereas “the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona” or the acronym “AMB” is used to refer tothe public body.
Figure 1. Population and area of Catalonia and the metropolitan area of Barcelona

Source: AMB (2017).
The Barcelona metropolitan area occupies a strategic position in the South of Europe, as it is in the
middle of the Mediterranean corridor, which links Spain with the rest of the continent. This fact isemphasised by the growing influence its port and airport have on national and international mobility inSouthern Europe.
When it comes to mobility, data from 2016 show that the residents in the metropolitan area make9.1 million daily trips (3.3 daily trips per person). The residents of the city of Barcelona account for 52%
of this mobility. The main reasons for the trips are going to work (12.7%), shopping (10.7%) and6© OECD/ITF 2018

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accompanying others (8.2%), without taking into account going back home (44.1%). As for the modal
share, 43% of trips are made by foot, 28% by public transport and 29% by private vehicle.
Figure 2. Population in the metropolitan area of Barcelona

Source: AMB (2017).

The Barcelona metropolitan area inside the integrated fare systemin the region
The organisation of public transport in the metropolitan area is influenced by the overlapping
management/institutional layers, described below from lower to higher territorial scale.
Metropolitan Area of Barcelona

As mentioned before, the metropolitan area of Barcelona consists of 36 municipalities and 3.2 million
inhabitants, living in the urban conurbation of Barcelona, which spans over 636 km2 in the immediatesurroundings of the city.
The Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) is the public entity that owns and manages all the public
transport systems within the metropolitan area. These systems include the metro and bus of the city ofBarcelona, as well as other urban or suburban bus services connecting the 36 municipalities in the area.
The metropolitan suburban tramway is an exception to this norm, as although it is fully within the limitsof the metropolitan area, it is not managed by the AMB but the Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM),
which will be described later on.
Metropolitan Region of Barcelona (RMB)

Consisting of 164 municipalities, it has 5 million inhabitants and covers 3.235 km2. The RMB is formed by
the metropolitan area of Barcelona and 128 other neighbouring municipalities. It should be noted thatthe metropolitan region is not related to the “region” concept used when referring to the total Catalan
territory.

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The RMB is a planning unit defined by the Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya onwards), forurban development matters, mobility and transport. Catalonia is divided into seven planning units, oneof which (and the most important with respect to population and economy) is the RMB.
Integrated fare system of Barcelona (IFS)The 346 municipalities forming Barcelona’s area of influence make up an area greater than the two
mentioned above. This is an area that resembles the RMB, but it is larger because it adapts to thehistorical reality of the transport networks, and so includes the starting stations of the train commuting
services that connect with the city of Barcelona. This area is under the integrated fare system (IFS), but it
is not under a specific planning instrument
The railway infrastructure reaches some municipalities that are not in the RMB but in a larger commuterarea. These municipalities ask to be included in the IFS, and thus the area has been subject to several
expansions since its creation. The IFS was recently enlarged from 296 to 346 municipalities while on theother hand the planning territorial unit of the RMB has stayed the same. At present, the IFS area has 5.7
million inhabitants, but as its boundaries are dynamic, the integrated fare system grows over time.
Figure 3. The four territories in public transport management

Source: TMB (2017).

The numerous existing public transport networks serving the metropolitan area can be classified in thefollowing groups: metropolitan transport networks (Box 1), integrated regional transport networks (Box2) and other networks.

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Box 1. Metropolitan transport networks

Figure 4. Barcelona Metro

The systems found completely within the metropolitan area aremanaged by the AMB (with the exception of the tramway). These are
the following:
Ferrocarril Metropolità de Barcelona (Metro of Barcelona)
The metro in Barcelona consists of 8 lines, 85.8 million veh/km and anannual demand of 381 million users (TMB, 2017). The AMB is theadministration in charge of the service, but the operator, the public
operator TMB, has a high degree of autonomy. The metro infrastructure isowned by the Generalitat. (Figure 4)

Source: ATM (2017)
Figure 5. Barcelona Tram

Trambaix and Trambesòs (TRAM)
The Trambaix and Trambesòs are 2 suburban tramway networks, inside themetropolitan area of Barcelona, with 2.5 million veh/km and an annual
demand of 27 million users in total (ATM, 2016). The tramway is a uniquecase, as even though it is fully inside the metropolitan area limits, it is the
ATM who manages the service rather than the AMB. The tramway system isoperated via a concession by a group of private companies. The ATM is the
public body that concedes the concession. (Figure 5)

Source: ATM (2017)
Figure 6. Barcelona Bus

Transports de Barcelona (Urban bus in Barcelona)
The urban bus of Barcelona consists of 99 lines, 41 million veh/km and anannual demand of 196 million users (TMB, 2017). The operator, as in the
Metro, is the public operator TMB. As with the Metro, the AMB is theadministration in charge of the service, but the operator, TMB, has a highdegree of autonomy. (Figure 6)

Source: ATM (2017)
Figure 7. Metropolitan bus

Other bus lines in the metropolitan area
The urban bus of Barcelona consists of 107 lines, 37.4 million veh/km and anannual demand of 87 million users (AMB, 2016). There are 8 companies or
private groups acting as operators for these lines, but the AMB manages
them directly. (Figure 7)

Source: ATM (2017)
Figure 8. Nitbus Barcelona

NitBus (Night bus)
Barcelona’s night bus network (NitBus) consists of 20 lines (AMB, 2017d).
There are 2 companies acting as operators for these lines, but the AMB
manages them directly. (Figure 8)
Others
These services are not included in the integrated fare system. Other bus
services in Barcelona include the Aerobús, which connects the airport to thecity centre and two touristic bus networks, Barcelona Touristic Bus and City
Tour Barcelona. A part from the bus, there are also several minor transportlines such as the Montjuïc Funicular Railway, the Blue Tramway or the
Montjuïc Cable Car. (Figure 9)© OECD/ITF 2018

Source: ATM (2017)
Figure 9. Touristic bus Barcelona

Source: MCRIT (2017)

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Box 2. Integrated regional transport networks

Figure 10. Rodalies Catalunya

The transport networks within the integrated fare system (IFS) exceeding
the boundaries of the metropolitan area are the following:
Rodalies de Catalunya (RENFE)
The network of suburban trains consists of 6 lines, 101 million veh/km andan annual demand of 108 million users (ATM, 2016). The Generalitat is theadministration in charge of the service. The Spanish State is the owner ofthe operator (RENFE) and the owner of the infrastructure (ADIF).

Source: ATM (2017)
Figure 11. FGC

Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC)
This suburban railway network consists of 2 corridors, 31 million veh·km andan annual demand of 81 million users (ATM, 2016). The operator is a public
operator (FGC Operator). The owner of the service is the Generalitat deCatalunya but as FGC is a public operator, the Generalitat delegates thepractical management and control of the service.

Source: ATM (2017)
Figure 12. expres.cat Bus

Other bus transport operators
There are around 30 private urban or suburban transport companies that
operate via a concession or other contracts issued by the Generalitat.

Source: ATM (2017)

Other networks

There are other transport services that connect the metropolitan region with the exterior, and thus do
not form part of the integrated fare system. These services fall out of the scope of this document, andwill therefore only be mentioned to offer a complete view of the public transport supply in the city. They
are the following:a) Regional railway services: they cover the Catalan territory, are managed by the Catalan
Government and are operated by the public operator Renfe.
b) Regional bus services: they operate in the Catalan territory, are managed by the Catalan
Government and are operated by several private companies.
c) Long-distance railway services (conventional and high-speed trains): they connect Catalonia withthe rest of Spain, are managed by the Spanish central government and are operated by Renfe.
Unlike the previously mentioned, these are not public but commercial services, and so, according
to European directives, must be economically profitable without depending on subsidies.
d) Long-distance bus services: they connect Catalonia with the rest of Spain, are managed by the
Spanish central government and are operated by Renfe.
The following tables sum up the supply and demand of transport systems in the IFS. The concepts ofdirect and indirect management will be clarified in the section that follows.

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Table 1. Supply and demand of transport systems in the IFS
Transport systems in the IFS

Annual veh/km

Annual Passengers(million)(million)(% over IFS)(% over IFS)

Metro

85.8

24.0

381.5

40.0

Bus TMB

40.6

11.3

195.8

20.5

TOTAL TMB (direct management)

126.3

35.3

577.3

60.5

Other metropolitan buses (indirect management)

37.4

10.4

86.6

9.1

TOTAL AMB (TMB + indirect management)

163.7

45.7

663.9

69.6

FGC

31.5

8.8

81.4

8.5

RENFE

101.6

28.4

108.2

11.3

Tramway

2.5

0.7

26.8

2.8

Other urban buses

13.6

3.8

33.9

3.6

Other interurban buses

45.1

12.6

39.8

4.2

TOTAL IFS

358.0

100

954.0

100

Source: ATM (2016).

Governance and institutional set up
The public transport system in the metropolitan area has a complex organisational structure. It mainly
consists of four independent railway networks (Rodalies de Catalunya, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat deCatalunya, Metro and Tramway) and several urban and interurban bus networks.
The three territorial levels described in the previous section are replicated in three institutional levels as
follows:


The AMB is responsible for planning and managing public transport systems in the metropolitanarea, except for the tramway, which is managed by the Authority of Metropolitan Transport(ATM).

The ATM is the public entity that manages and cooperates all planning instruments in the RMB.
The ATM is a consortium formed by the Catalan Government, the AMB, the Barcelona City
Council and the AMTU.1

As will be explained later, the ATM is responsible for, among other things, deciding on public transport
tariffs, establishing financial agreements, developing mobility plans (such as the Mobility Master Plan in
the RMB) and developing public transport infrastructure (Infrastructures Master Plan in the RMB).
The Department of Territory and Sustainability of the regional government of Catalonia(Generalitat de Catalunya) is responsible for managing the concessions with the transport
operators that are not managed by the AMB.

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The Generalitat de Catalunya owns exclusive competencies in the matter of land-use planning andmanagement of transport services that operate completely within the Catalan region. The Generalitat deCatalunya remits the development of transport services in the metropolitan area of Barcelona to the
ATM and the AMB.
The following table summarises the organization structure of the public transport:
Table 2. Organisation structure of the public transport systems operating in the metropolitan area
Type

Service

Operator

Owner of the infrastructure

Owner of the service

Rodalies de Catalunya

Renfe (public operator)

ADIF (State)

Generalitat deCatalunya

Ferrocarrils de laGeneralitat

FGC Operadora (public
operator)

FGC (Generalitat deCatalunya)

Generalitat deCatalunya

Tramway

Trambaix andTrambesòs

TRAM (Private company)

Several administrations

ATM

Metro

Metro

TMB (public operator)

Generalitat de Catalunya

AMB

Urban buses inBarcelona

TMB (public operator)

Several administrations

AMB

Other buses in the AMB Several private companies

Several administrations

AMB

Taxi

Several administrations

AMB

RailwayBus

Taxi

Several private companies

Source: PMMU diagnosis; AMB, (2015).

The Area Metropolitana de Barcelona and its rationale behind
The municipality of Barcelona is smaller (in area and in population) than the urban area it forms with its
surrounding municipalities. This fact led to the creation of a public body that could comprise the wholeurban area in order to manage transversal policies in terms of urbanism, mobility and transport andenvironmental issues, among others.
The Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) is the administrative body of the metropolitan area ofBarcelona, which was established through the Law 31/2010 of the Catalan Parliament. The new
metropolitan public administration replaces three entities that existed until 2011: Mancomunitat deMunicipis de l'Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (Union of Municipalities of the Metropolitan Area ofBarcelona); the Environmental Agency and the Metropolitan Transport Board (EMT). The AMB
rationalises and simplifies the metropolitan governance by creating a single administration.
The Metropolitan Council is the highest governing body of the AMB. Among its powers are theappointment and termination of the presidency of the AMB; the approval of the Metropolitan Action
Plan, which includes the projects and services that will be developed by the AMB during the mandate,
and the approval of ordinances and regulations.
All mayors and councillors elected for town councils become metropolitan councillors and, therefore,
representatives of the citizenship of the metropolitan area. The presidency of the AMB is held by themayor of the city of Barcelona. The Metropolitan Council currently comprises 90 metropolitan
councillors. Each of the 36 municipalities has a number of members in proportion to their demographic
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weight. The mayors of the municipalities are ex officio members of the Council, in addition to thecouncillors appointed by the Town Councils whose number increases until covering the one stipulated
for each municipality.
The Transport Department of the AMB is the result of the evolution of the previous Metropolitan
Transport Body (EMT), created in 1986 as one of the bodies replacing the Barcelona Metropolitan
Corporation. The EMT was composed of Barcelona city and 17 municipalities of its area. Since 2011, themetropolitan administration has grown in extension, and currently comprises 36 municipalities.
The AMB, as was the EMT before, is the owner and manager the public transport services (bus andmetro) provided in the metropolitan area. The main transport services are provided in the city ofBarcelona and its immediate surrounding area through a direct award contract with the public operator
TMB, in charge for the provision of the bus (TB) and metro services (FMB).
The AMB provides its public transport services by either directly managing a public operator (TMB) or
indirectly managing several private transport companies operating under administrative concession. The
concessions have a period of validity of 8-10 years.
As of December 2017, the AMB staff is made up of 541 employees with an associated global budget of
EUR 34 M/year. The number of staff within the Transport Department of AMB is 37 people. The volumeof personnel of the Area of Mobility and Transport of the AMB is of 37 people.
The collective public transport network under the AMB responsibility is composed of metro and bus
networks. Altogether, this system carries 663 million passengers a year through a network of eight metro
lines and 210 bus lines, with an overall length of about 4 650 km. It has a fleet of 1 764 buses and 171
metros (AMB, 2016).
As can be seen in Table 1, the AMB is responsible for 46% of the total transport supply in the IFS, while
adding up to 70% of the total demand.
The AMB funds transport projects in the metropolitan area in its competencies framework, which does
not include the tramway (held by the ATM) and infrastructural projects (held by the infrastructureowner).
The main transport operator is TMB, composed of Transports de Barcelona, SA and Ferrocarril
Metropolità, SA, which provide metro and bus services. Within the metropolitan area there are also eightcompanies or private groups that provide bus services.
Finally, there are two more transport concessions to attend specific demands: the airport connection(Aerobus) and touristic routes (Barcelona City Tour). These concessions work on their own fare system
and are not integrated within the IFS in the Barcelona region.
The administration of the AMB is organised as follows:

The Metropolitan Council is the highest governing body of the AMB. All mayors and councillors
elected for town councils become metropolitan councillors, and therefore representatives of thecitizenship of the metropolitan area. Each of the 36 municipalities in the metropolitan area has anumber of members in proportion to their demographic weight. The president is chosen from
the Metropolitan Council, and it manages the metropolitan government.



The Governing Board performs the tasks delegated by the Metropolitan Council and thepresident, and so assists the president in the everyday work of the metropolitan administration.

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The AMB has other bodies guaranteeing its operation. Some of them monitor financial
management, others have the function of ensuring the legality of procedures and others are
responsible for institutional representation and for giving voice to metropolitan town councils.

Apart from transport and mobility, the AMB also holds competencies in different areas such as urbanism(infrastructure and urban areas development), housing, environment (management of parks andbeaches), social cohesion and economic development.
Each of these competencies has an associated department working under total co-ordination with theothers branches. This innovative characteristic of the AMB allows for the development of transversal
planning instruments related to mobility, housing, territorial planning, environment and sustainability.
A good example is the fact that the AMB is currently developing the metropolitan Urban Master Plan
(PDU) in co-ordination with the Urban Mobility Metropolitan Plan (PMMU) following the directives of theCatalan Mobility Law2 that links mobility planning to urban development.
Competencies in transport and mobility

The legal framework reinforces the metropolitan administration with new competencies and objectives
1.

The AMB has powers in surface transport of passengers in its 36 metropolitan municipalities,
managing the service and the concessions of all the bus lines within.

2.

Provision of the Barcelona Metro through an indirect management with the public operator
TMB.

3.

The services managed by the AMB cover 70% of the metropolitan mobility that occurs incollective transport.

4.

Regulation of the taxi service inside the metropolitan area.

5.

Development and approval of the Urban Mobility Metropolitan Plan that includes the definitionof the basic metropolitan road network. Participation in traffic management in this network,
together with the Catalan Government.

6.

Planning and management of passenger transportation with tourist and cultural purposes,delegated by town councils. This also includes the bus shuttle connecting Barcelona’s airport tothe city centre.

7.

Promotion of sustainable transport by encouraging the use of the bicycle.

8.

The AMB manages and keeps the maintenance tasks in the peripheral expressway of Barcelona.

Furthermore, the AMB owns other public companies:
9.

AMB Informació i Serveis SA (AMB Informació) is a metropolitan corporation directly managed
by the AMB with responsibilities in information and dissemination to citizens about public
transport services, promotion of metropolitan public transport, creation and maintenance ofthe documentation file on metropolitan transport, customer service.

10. The Metropolitan Taxi Institute (IMET) is an autonomous body dependent on the Barcelona
Metropolitan Area (AMB). Its function is focused on the administration and management of taxi
services in this area.

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Funding structure of the AMB

The AMB administers a budget of EUR 684 Mand the department of Mobility and Transports represents
40% of the total expenses. The AMB funds come from different sources, the most significant are:

Direct taxes (15%): the municipalities in the metropolitan area charge a specific tax called“Metropolitan tax” that is specific for the AMB.



Indirect taxes (25%): other surcharges in municipal taxes such as waste management.

Regular transfers between administrations (52%): includes transfers from otheradministrations such as the city councils (most part), the ATM (re-distribution of Public
transport ticketing revenue collection managed by the ATM), Catalan Water Supply Agency
or the Port Authority of Barcelona among others.



Patrimonial income (5%): mainly by profitable concessions to private operators such as the
Airport shuttle (Aerobús) or the touristic bus among others.

This budget does not include the separate budgets of the directly-managed TMB (around
EUR 800 million) and other companies in the AMB’s group such as AMB Informació or the Metropolitan
Taxi Institute.

The Autoritat del Transport Metropolità (Metropolitan Transport
Authority or ATM)
The Autoritat del Transport Metropolità (Metropolitan Transport Authority, or ATM) is a voluntary interadministrative consortium set up in 1997. The AMB and other competent authorities coordinate theplanning and financing of the transport system in the IFS scale through the ATM.
The administrations within the consortium are the Generalitat de Catalunya (51%) and local
governments (49%), namely the Barcelona City Council, the AMB and the AMTU. Also notable is thepresence of representatives from the state central government (AGE) on ATM's governing bodies, but
only as observers.
While the AMB concentrates on managing public transport strictly within the metropolitan area, theATM acts in the IFS boundaries.
The main aim of the ATM is to organise the co-operation between the public administrations owningcollective public transport services and infrastructures in the IFS, as well as including thoseadministrations which, such as the state government, are committed from a financial point of view or
who own services that have not been assigned to other bodies.
The ATM plays an important role in the organisation of tariffs within the IFS. As has been mentioned,
there are numerous networks at the disposal of the metropolitan population. These range from services
within the metropolitan area limits (such as the tramway or metro), but also those connecting themetropolitan area and the other municipalities of the IFS (such as the suburban bus or train lines) andeven long-distance networks.
For those services operating within the IFS limits, the ATM draws up and approves a shared system oftariffs, which establishes the integrated fare system. The ATM controls the introduction of new tickets
and establishes ticket prices.

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Even though the ATM’s territorial planning unit is the RMB, it decides upon transport fares in the wholeof the IFS. However, the interests of the municipalities outside the RMB are also taken into accountwhen setting up public transport fares. These municipalities are represented by the Generalitat deCatalunya, which holds 51% of the participation of the ATM. Moreover, the ATM is nowadays working toinclude the rest of the IFS territory outside the RMB in the planning documents for which it is
responsible.
One of the main purposes of the ATM is to collect the revenue generated by those tickets and thenredistribute the income among the operators.
Apart from collecting and re-distributing ticket sale revenues, the ATM draws up proposals for financing
agreements with the different public administrations responsible for financing public transport, anddefines the system’s budget allocations. Consequently, it agrees with the administration the subsidies
provided to offset the deficit of services and operational costs of the different public transport services.
The ATM is funded by the members of its consortium (Generalitat de Catalunya, AMB, Barcelona city
council and AMTU). Hence, the municipalities inside the metropolitan area indirectly fund the ATM byfunding the AMB.
The ATM’s total budget for 2017 was EUR 1.321 M, with 51% corresponding to transfers to public
transport operators.
The ATM also elaborates the Master Plan of Infrastructures (PDI), which contains the entire public
transport infrastructure planned for a ten-year period in the RMB, irrespective of the administration oroperator involved. Through the PDI, the ATM plans the public transport infrastructures in the RMB,
however, the ATM itself does not fund infrastructure improvements, as the responsibility of carrying out
the constructions stands in the owner of the infrastructure, generally the Generalitat de Catalunya or the
Spanish State
Finally, it also develops the Master Plan for Mobility (PDM) for the RMB, which sets over the course of six
years, the specific objectives in order to achieve sustainable and safe mobility that help improve theeconomic competitiveness of the RMB.
In terms of a wider regional analysis, there are three other ATMs in Catalonia for other territorialplanning units. There is no overlapping in terms of territory nor in competencies between the four ATMs.
However, the Generalitat de Catalunya plans to implement an integrated fare system for the wholeterritory in the mid-term. This idea is still under development and there is still no information on how
this global system will be organised.
The Generalitat de Catalunya, as the administration granting public transport concessions outside themetropolitan area, and the ATM, as the administrations regulating the IFS, together decide on which
public transport concessions are integrated in the IFS.
The role of the AMTU

The AMTU corresponds to a non-profit association of city councils that manage urban transport outside
the metropolitan area of Barcelona (where the AMB plays that role).
The AMTU is a member of the ATM as a representative for the city councils that provide urban public
transport within the IFS. The municipalities can freely join the association (it is not mandatory in anycase). The AMTU is composed of 93 city councils and two county councils.

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Its main function is to be a sole interlocutor between the city councils with urban transport and regional
administrations commanding the interurban transport such as ATM and the Generalitat de Catalunya.
These include the city councils that receive subsidies for the urban public transport within the IFS.
The AMTU gathers the subsidies from the ATM that correspond to financing urban public transport,
estimating the total amount that corresponds to each municipality and finally performing the distributionof resources between them.
The AMTU also manages subsidies focused on financing proposals for improving urban public transport,
contemplated in improvement plans previously approved by the AMTU, the ATM and the Generalitat.
This also includes the elaboration of technical, juridical and administrative analysis related to mobility,
infrastructures and public transport. The AMTU provides technical documents related to theinfrastructural planning documents, public transport and mobility. However, it has no competencies inplanning or executing infrastructures.
The role of the ATM and the AMB at the metropolitan level
Essentially, the AMB exerts the co-ordination among operators, is in charge of granting concessions,plans the services within the metropolitan area and maintains a direct contact with the 36 municipalities.
Moreover, it has competencies in fields other than mobility (urban planning, housing, environment,sustainability, etc.), and consequently can make policies integrating different sectors.
Table 3. Competencies in the metropolitan area
Competency

Metropolitan area

Granting concessions

AMB3

Managing the service

AMB (through TMB and private operators)

Contact with local administrations

AMB

Proposals for financial agreements

ATM

Determine integrated fares

ATM

Determine non-integrated fares (tickets specific for certain operators)

AMB4

Public transport infrastructure planning

ATM

Centralised control of demand dataATM

The ATM is a consortium, composed by the Generalitat de Catalunya, AMB, and Barcelona city Council,
created to carry out those aspects that go beyond the scope of its member’s competencies. Amongthese aspects are the preparation of financial agreements with administrations, the establishment oftariffs and the planning of public transport infrastructure.
There is also a third element that complements the AMB and ATM, the Transport Department of theGeneralitat de Catalunya, which supervises concessions to operators when their services connect themetropolitan area with the rest of the RMB, as this falls out of the AMB’s scope.

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Provision of transport services at metropolitan
level
The role of the AMB and the ATM in public transport management
and granting concessions
The AMB manages the concessions for bus services operating within the metropolitan area, while theGeneralitat de Catalunya manages concessions for lines connecting the metropolitan area with the restof Catalonia. However, the lines managed by the Generalitat de Catalunya are under the so-called“prohibition of passage”, and hence cannot serve passengers travelling inside the AMB’s scope.
The ATM is responsible for the financial balance between concessions. As will be explained in the section
Balancing the income between the different operators, the ATM collects all ticket-generated income ofthe entire public transport system and re-distributes the revenues. This re-distribution depends on thezones crossed by the trip, the number of modes used and the type of ticket validated.

The two types of management of the AMB
The AMB performs two types of management in its services: direct and indirect management. On the
one hand, direct management is used to manage the metro and Barcelona’s urban bus networks. In thiscase, the operation of transport services is run by the public operator TMB. There is no tendering
process, so it cannot be considered a concession. TMB has a high degree of autonomy, but it is under thesupervision of the AMB.
The president of TMB is the Mobility Councillor of the Barcelona City Council, and the vice-president is
the AMB’s vice-president in the department of Mobility. TMB carries out its own planning programmes,
but they must always be approved by the AMB. In addition, TMB has a direct intervention of theBarcelona City Council through its presidency at the time of planning, but the board of directors of AMB
ultimately takes the decisions.
On the other hand, indirect management is used for the rest of bus lines inside the metropolitan area.
This type of management consists in concessions for specific transport services to be operated by privatecompanies that have entered and won a tendering process.
The AMB carries out the whole process of contracting and planning of the service in direct contact withthe operator company.

Regulation of bus service and type of concessions used
Tendered contracts in the metropolitan area

Today the AMB runs the tendering process and the concession contracts for all the bus lines that operate
inside the metropolitan area of Barcelona.

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The tendering process is a competitive tendering procedure without pre-selection nor negotiation. The
resulting contracts transfer part of the cost and revenue risks to the operators, as well as other quality
penalties and incentives. The tender contracts tend to be for a period of eight years approximately.
Operators procure vehicles on behalf of the AMB, who holds their ownership, and provide other auxiliary
installations (depots, offices...).
The AMB decides upon service supply and network development, and allows service modifications(proposed by itself or by the operator) within the following limits:
Changes in total production (measured in yearly kilometres) are limited to a maximum of +/- 10%(depending on each contract).

No new lines can be created, however, reinforcements of part of an existing route might bepermitted.

In the tender process, the operator proposes a yearly operational cost and a goal for passenger volume.
The yearly operational cost is constant throughout the contract and it is updated with a formula thatconsiders the evolution of fuel costs and the drivers' local wages agreement.
The operator estimates the number of passengers for each of the years of the contract. If the number ofyearly passengers is under the operator's estimate, it assumes the loss of these revenues. On the other
hand, if the number of yearly passengers is above the operator's estimations, it receives part of the extra
revenues, which ranges (between 25% and 50% of these extra revenues). However, the passenger
estimation may be modified yearly to take into account the perceived trend in passenger volume.
Finally, qualitative incentives have been designed in order to complement (or penalise) the revenues ofthe operator's service. Incentives take into account the obtained quality, measured in terms ofpunctuality, bus quality, bus-stops quality, dynamic information quality, perceived quality andpassengers' satisfaction. These incentives or penalties might represent up to 5.5% of the operationalcosts.
The process for granting concessions outside the metropolitan area of Barcelona (including services thatconnect the metropolitan area with the rest of RMB) is supervised by the Generalitat de Catalunya. The
current concessions proceed from historical agreements that were extended recurrently. In some cases,
the concessions can be tracked back several decades and even centuries, such as some of the lines
operated by Sagalés since 1641. However, all the bus concessions managed by the Generalitat deCatalunya expire in 2028, and their extension is not considered in the current contracts, thus drawing achange in scenario from 2028.
The ATM only grants the concession of the Barcelona tramway. The concessions corresponding to urban
buses are granted by the AMB in the 36 municipalities of the metropolitan area of Barcelona. For themunicipalities outside of the metropolitan area, concessions are granted by the city council.
Financial contribution design of the tendered contracts

The financial contribution of the tendered services is calculated as the difference between costs andrevenues, including incentives, and is paid by the AMB to the private operators:
S=C-I+/-G (where S is AMB's financial contribution, C is cost, I are revenues, and G are incentives)
The annual costs of the operators are divided into two parts: operational costs and investment costs.
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investments such as vehicle depreciation, new equipment inside the vehicles or financing costs, among
others.
Revenues are also divided into two parts: regular revenues stemming from the ticketing of thepassengers, and extraordinary revenues (which mainly include profits from advertising). All revenues
from the ticketing are managed by the ATM. The management and distribution of public transport
revenues will be detailed in the section Financing the transport system.
Tendering process

Tendering processes for bus concessions in the inner metropolitan area are managed by the AMB. These
processes are scored on a scale of 100 points, divided into two main parts: 49 points for technicalaspects, and 51 points for economic aspects.
During the tendering process, the operator is asked to technically define a detailed operational model ofthe routes included in the proposal and has to define the economic offer.
The economic offer should include:The yearly operational costs; the lower the price offered, the more points are assigned to theoperator (there are some specifications to prevent operators from offering excessively low
prices).



The total number of passengers expected; the higher the number of passengers expected, themore points are assigned during the tendering process.

In both cases, there is a risk in offering inappropriate values. If the yearly operational cost is too low, thedeficit will be underestimated since the operational cost will be higher than expected. If the goal of
passengers' volume is too high, calculated revenues will be overestimated and therefore the deficit will
also be underestimated.
Design of incentives through quality controls

There are several incentives that can contribute to the AMB’s financial contribution to each operator.
These incentives are punctuality, vehicle quality, bus stop quality, dynamic information quality andpassengers’ satisfaction.
Punctuality

Punctuality is calculated for each operator as an average of the annual punctuality of the line, weighted
by the number of annual services. Incentives and penalties may reach up to 1% of the operational cost,
and they are applied by calculating the difference between the operators punctuality with the averagepunctuality of the other AMB services.
In general, if the operator punctuality is 2 percentage points above the AMB average, there is an
incentive. Otherwise, if the operator punctuality is 2 percentage points under the AMB average,
penalties are applied.
Bus quality (vehicle)

Every vehicle is inspected while circulating by a mystery shopper twice a year. Different quality
parameters of the vehicle are measured by taking into consideration the information provided on board,

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maintenance, cleaning, driving quality and the driver's citizen advice. For each of these five aspects,
quality incentives or penalties are designed in relation to the average results for the entire AMB services.
The total amount of quality incentives or penalties may reach up to 1% of the operational cost.
Bus-stop quality

Every bus stop is controlled twice a year in order to learn the general bus-stop maintenance andproblems. Some of the bus stops have to be maintained by the operators (mainly bus-stop poles), whilein others it is the local administration, or other service companies, who are in charge of the upkeep(mainly for the case of bus-stop shelters). However, in all instances, the operators are in charge ofproviding their own transport service information. The total amount of quality incentives or penalties
may also reach up to 1% of the operational cost.
Dynamic information quality

All buses come with GPS co-ordinated with an Intelligent Transportation Management System (ITMS),
which is mandatory by contract and must be provided by the operator. The GPS provides information of
their position and informs about the time remaining to arrive to the next bus stops. This information isdisplayed on the information panels in bus stops and mobile apps, i.e. AMBtempsbus, which is an AMB
free service for users to get live information on the minutes remaining for their bus to reach the bus
stop. In this regard, operators are in charge of providing confident information to the web services thatprocess such arrival time information. The delivery of this information is mandatory and the formats
must adapt to the Webservices and Databases provided by AMB Informació, the company in charge ofaggregating and publishing this data. Therefore, a quality index has been designed with an incentive andpenalty range up to 0.5% of the operational cost.
Passengers' satisfaction

Finally, a satisfaction index has been designed to measure the quality perceived by passengers. It isbased on a survey conducted yearly among 6 000 bus transport users to measure the satisfaction they
perceive on the quality of tendered companies services. The total amount of quality incentives or
penalties may reach up to 1% of the operational cost.
Tendered contracts in the rest of the Metropolitan Region

The concession contracts held by the Generalitat de Catalunya with the bus operators running in the
Metropolitan Region follow the next conditions. There is a part of the concession contract that is
submitted at risk by the operator. It comes from the origin of the concession, where the operator could
adapt a minimum amount of transport offer to keep a positive economical balance for the company. The
tariff had to be approved by the public administration. There are no subsidies for this part of thecontract.
On top of that, the public administration adds a new concession contract to provide the proper amountof transport offer to fit a territorial balance. It results into an increase of the service, which in this case itis partially sustained by public subsidies.
This second contract is based on a model of “Net Cost” where the costs and ticket income are forecasted
by the public administration and the need subsidies are calculated. Thus, the operator runs at risk for thecost and the demand as the amount of subsidies are previously decided.

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In order to provide a certain stability in the case of a big recession in terms of demand of passengers, theestimation of economical subsidies are recalculated annually.

Financing the transport system
The Integrated Fare System

The Integrated Fare System (IFS) includes 346 municipalities, and is divided in 39 fare zones. It integrates
under the same fare system all public transport systems operating within the IFS limits. Fare zones areorganised concentrically around Barcelona. Figure 4 shows all the existing zones.
Figure 13. Fare zones in the IFS

Source: ATM (2015).

Passengers can use the same ticket or card to travel on any transport mode within the IFS (except for
special services such as the touristic bus and the Aerobús), and can also transfer over to a different modeusing the same ticket for free. Users must validate their ticket each time, and the free fare is applied
automatically for a maximum of four trip-stages (the first validation plus three extra validations) within
one hour and 15 minutes. For journeys crossing more than one zone, 15 additional transfer minutes areadded for each additional zone crossed.
Although multi-journey cards are benefited from the IFS and the free-transfer policy, single tickets are
not included in both the IFS and the transfer policy. Single ticket fares are set directly by operators, andso prices may vary across services.
A multi-journey card can be used in any trip inside the IFS area. However, different fares apply according
to the number of zones crossed in a trip (from beginning to end), and so the appropriate card must be
used in each journey. Card prices range from one to six zones, and so for trips crossing more than six
zones, the six-zone-fare applies.

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Table 4. Available tickets in the IFS
TicketNumber of trips

Validity

Number of users

T-10

10

Until February of the year
following the year of purchase

Multi-personal

T-50/3050

30 days

One user (not personalised)T-70/3070

30 daysMulti-personal

T-MonthUnlimited

30 days

One user (personalised, ID
required)

T-Trimester

Unlimited

90 days

One user (personalised, ID
required)

T-Day

Unlimited

1 day

One user (not personalised)

Other non-integrated transport tickets

Some operators offer their own transport tickets, below the fares established in the IFS, but these do notenable free transfer onto other transport modes.

Mechanisms to balance the user benefits and covering theoperational and maintenance costs
One of the main functions of the ATM is to act as a financial pillar of the entire metropolitan public
transport system. This guarantees there are sufficient economic resources to carry out an ongoing
improvement programme of the public transport within the metropolitan area of Barcelona.
In the year 2014, the ATM Board of Directors agreed a Framework Plan for the period 2014-31 for thefunding/financing of the public transport system and the refinancing of debt. The Framework Planfocuses on two different areas of action:
Firstly, to balance the current needs of the system and the contributions made by theadministrations in the period 2014-16 by increasing the contributions made by theadministrations (funding agreement) and by containing expenditure on the part of the transport
operators (contracts programme).

Secondly, to refinance, with financial institutions, the system's debt from the period 2009-13 andto establish new means of financing to balance the system's accounts over the period 2014-16(Financing Agreement with financial institutions).

The aim is therefore to balance the system's cost resulting from operational expenses with its income
from subsidies and revenue. In this way, for the first time, there will be a stable, long-term framework(2014-31) which will help to manage the system by regulating income and costs.
There are two main sources of revenue: government subsidies and travel fare income.
As can be seen in Figure 5, government subsidies account for just over 50% of the total system’s
revenues, while revenues from travel fares make up for a little under 50%.

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The Generalitat de Catalunya supplies around 50% of public subsidies to the transport system, with theCentral Government, the municipality of Barcelona and the AMB equally supplying the rest of thesubsidies.
The Central Government subsidies have decreased since 2010, while the Government of Catalonia has
steadily increased its subsidies in the last 10 years.
Figure 14. Yearly total revenue of the public transport system
1,500

1,346
1,208

1,254

1,233

1,260

1,261

,717.22,661.03,673.02,685.88,667.18,705.89,749.74,599.78,578.91,541.19

1,000
,750

1,268

1,069

1,021
,950

,723.59

2011

2012

2013

,628.52

2010,600.072009,594.712008,573.77,484.062007,565.55,469.27

2006,548.38,442.13,250,408.51,500,513.14

System revenues (million €)

1,250

1,263

2014

2015

2016

,0
Travel fares

Government subsidies

TOTAL REVENUE

Source: ATM (2017).

Figure 15. Public transport system’s subsidies
100%
90%
80%

11%

12%

12%

13%

13%

13%

14%

14%

15%

16%

12%

12%

15%

15%

16%

17%

16%

15%

15%

16%

19%

19%

51%

52%

51%

48%

51%

19%

18%

17%

16%

14%

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

% of subsidies

70%
60%
50%

45%

45%

43%

45%

44%

45%

40%
30%
20%
30%
10%

29%

29%

27%

32%

30%

0%
2006

2007
State Spain

2008

2009

2010

2011

Government of Catalonia

City of Barcelona

AMB

Source: ATM (2017).

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Balancing the income between the different operators
Income from ticket selling

The ATM is responsible for collecting all the ticket-generated income of the entire public transportsystem. This means assembling all the revenues generated by all the tickets used in all the operators of
the system.
Revenues stemming from operator-specific tickets (e.g. single-trip tickets) are passed onto thecorresponding operator. Revenues stemming from uni-modal trips (i.e. when there has been no transfers
between transport modes) are passed onto the corresponding operator. Revenues stemming from multimodal trips (i.e. when there has been at least one transfer between transport modes) are distributed
among the corresponding operators according to the fare zones passed over in each stage of thejourney.
When the operators are managed by the AMB, the ticket revenue is transferred from the ATM to the
AMB and this transfers it to its managed operators. When the operators are managed by the Generalitat,
the ticket revenue is transferred directly to the operators.
Income from public subsidies

The ATM is responsible for collecting all income generated by the public administration subsidies andsplitting them between the public transport managers to keep a financial balance of the system.
The transport managers are: (1) AMB for the public transport within the metropolitan area, (2) AMTU for
the urban public transport in the metropolitan region (and outside the metropolitan area) and (3) the
Generalitat for the interurban public transport inside the metropolitan region (including the operatorsconnecting the metropolitan area with the rest of the region). The Barcelona tramway is an exceptionthat is managed directly by the ATM.

Transport investments within the metropolitan area
The transport investments for service improvement in the metropolitan area, such as new lines, schedulechanges, vehicle renewal or bus stop improvements are managed by the AMB. The improvements interms of new transport infrastructure are managed by the owner of the infrastructure, basicallymunicipalities, the Generalitat de Catalunya or the Spanish Central Government.
There are several planning instruments in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. The most relevant ones
are the Metropolitan Mobility Plan of Barcelona (PMMU, issued by the AMB, the Master Plan ofInfrastructures (PDI) and the Master Plan for Mobility (PDM), both issued by the ATM. Their main
objective is to set forth the necessary transportation network improvements within a given time frame,
and to reduce the territorial disparities between areas. The total budget included in these instruments
are EUR 260 2 M (for the PMMU, corresponding to a five-year-time frame), EUR 12 379.5 M (for the PDI,
corresponding to a 10-year-time frame) and EUR 52.3 M (for the parts in the PDM that are not included
in other planning instruments, corresponding to a five-year-time frame).

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Strategies for route planning
Strategies for planning new services or upgrading of existing ones are carried out through specificplanning instruments called Transport service plans.
At a metropolitan scale, the AMB is responsible for the planning of metro and bus systems that are
entirely within the metropolitan area of Barcelona and is captured in the Metropolitan Mobility Plan ofBarcelona (PMMU). On the other hand, the ATM and the Generalitat de Catalunya develop the Transport
service plans for the transport systems connecting to the metropolitan area (i.e. Suburban railways).
The transport service plans related to services inside the RMB but outside the metropolitan area aremanaged by the ATM, while those falling outside the RMB’s scope are managed by the Generalitat theCatalunya. As mentioned in chapters above, the ATM is currently working to include the whole IFS
territory in its planning documents.
Because the supply of public transport in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona is highly consolidated,
service plans attempt to detect weaknesses in the current system as well as putting forward new
proposals to capture new potential demand.
The transport service plans are based on the following criteria:






26

Improve territorial and temporary coverage of public transport, and equity.
oMaximise the territorial coverage of public transport, establishing transport on demand
services regular transport is not efficient.

oEnlarge the hours of service in summer periods and weekends.

oTend to service equity in terms of the number of expeditions per inhabitant.

Improve bus services performance.
oSearch for synergies between urban and interurban transport networks.

oIncrease the commercial speed, optimising the number of stops and taking advantage ofthe new planned reserved platforms.

oImprove regularity of frequencies (every 15', 20', 30 'or 60').

oImprove schedule co-ordination for the main multi-modal centres.

o

In high demand lines, set sufficient frequency and suitable vehicles to avoid saturationand ensure good levels of service.

Improve bus stop equipmento

Bus shelter, stop sticks.

oGeneral accessibility and for handicapped.

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Management and regulation of transport data
In the metropolitan area of Barcelona there is no system integrating mobility data for all transportmodes. Instead, the corresponding administrations may be contacted for data on a specific mode.
The management and regulation for transport data is considered from two points of view: in terms ofdata on demand and in terms of real time transport supply.
In terms of demand data

For private transport, there are traffic counters distributed along the road network offering a wide range
of information on a specific point of a given road. The administration owner of the road (local
municipalities, supra-municipal administrations, Catalan regional government or the Spanish Central
State) collects the data and publish it on their websites. If further detail is required, the information canbe asked for.
For public transport, the ATM collects all demand transport data related to the transport modes
managed by the AMB, ATM or Generalitat de Catalunya: metro, urban or suburban bus, FGC, Renfe andtramway. This information consists in the ticket validations disaggregated at any detailed level (date,time, bus line, type of ticketing used…). The AMB receives as well demand data directly from histransport operators in adatabase format designed by the AMB.
Moreover, the AMB regularly conducts survey campaigns to learn journey origins and destinations of thebus lines it manages indirectly.
Data for other transport modes (e.g. high-speed train, Aerobús, touristic buses or public bicycle systems)
are collected by the corresponding operator.
To complete the mobility matrix of the entire metropolitan area with walking and bicycle trips, transport
surveys are carried out. These surveys cover the IFS zone, and offer either a real value or an estimation
for a given year. They offer extensive information on issues such as the number of trips per person, theorigin and destination, the duration, the time of the day, the transport modes used, etc.
The Weekday Mobility Survey (EMEF), which is carried out yearly between October and December, is an
official statistic promoted by the ATM, the Barcelona City Hall, the AMB and in the latest edition also the
AMTU and the Catalan Institute of Statistics (Idescat). It has been carried out for 15 years.
The main aim of the EMEF is to learn the usual mobility habits of the population in the IFS. A reportcontaining aggregate data is published. For further detail, a formal request must be submitted.
A new way to learn the public transport users’ mobility pattern will come about between 2018 and 2019,
when the new T-Mobility card will come into service. It will consist of a new payment system via apersonal card, and consequently fares can be user-specific according to the frequency of the user’s trips.
This card will lead to a change in the validating system, as users will validate their ticket both at the startand finish of their journey. Because of this, it will be possible to obtain complete and centralised data foreach user, by tracking user trip frequency and usual starting and finishing stations.

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In terms of real-time data on transport supply

All buses managed by the AMB must have a GPS and an Intelligent Transportation Management System(ITMS) and all the operators must provide confident information to the web services. This regulation is
mandatory by contract, and all the information is gathered and aggregated by AMB Informació.
The ITMS provides real time information on the location of vehicles, and so can provide historical data on
travelling times or Expected Time of Arrivals for each bus stop. This information is used to analyse thetrends on travelling times and to plan network improvements.
AMB Informació sets up the standards in which the operators must provide this information, which must
be channelled via Webservices and Databases. In the rest of the metropolitan area, the information
gathered by the ITMS is managed by the ATM.
The ATM may consult the Webservices information of the AMB’s ITMS via the agreements between bothbodies. Real-time data analysis of the AMB’s lines is carried out by AMB Informació, while the Mobility
Department of the AMB analyses the data from a historic point of view. The ATM does not analyse realtime supply data, but it does so from a historic point of view, as the Mobility Department of the AMB,
when planning new services.
In terms of real-time data sharing with private transport data groups (such as Google maps, citymapper),the transport operators (public and private) are responsible for providing the data. AMB does notcentralize the information flow with these data operators.

Mechanisms to develop and improve existing
multi-modal centres
There are several commuter terminals in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, such as Sants Estació, Plaça
Catalunya or Passeig de Gràcia. These terminals can offer in a single station multiple urban and/orinterurban railway and bus services.
For example, the station of Sants Estació in Barcelona acts as an important transport hub by connecting
several bus stops and a central railway station. This benefits a group of transport services, including thehigh-speed train, several suburban and regional train services, the urban metro, urban and suburban bus
lines, a taxi station and also the public bicycle system of Barcelona.
Nevertheless, in each of the existing commuter terminals, the space dedicated to each operator is clearly
defined, and operators are responsible for the management of their own area. Thus, as of today, there
are no multi-modal centres working as an integrated unit of management, which would allow for publicprivate participation in the management of the station or the exploitation of retail facilities within thestation for economic benefits. In the metropolitan area of Barcelona, the multi-modal centres are not a
specific concession in itself, but rather each commuter station is integrated in the concession of the line
it belongs to.

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The future project of La Sagrera is perhaps the station most-resembling a multi-modal centre. This will be
Barcelona’s second high-speed train station (after Sants Estació), and will also include several metro
lines, suburban train lines and a new bus terminal. The financing of the project is based on thesurplus-value of the surrounding land, which will be dedicated to retail activities related to the station.
However, the centre is still under construction and its management model is yet to be defined.
Developing multi-modality and inter-modality is one of the aims of the strategic instruments fortransport planning mentioned in other sections of the present paper. These transport plans include
measures such as identifying a lack of connectivity between specific transport lines or planning newinterchange stations where needed. The ATM planning instrument PDI proposes new inter-modal
stations in the RMB, including the metropolitan area of Barcelona as the AMB has no competencies inplanning these kind of infrastructures. The responsible for constructing the new intermodal stations is
the owner of the infrastructure (Generalitat de Catalunya for FGC and Metro and ADIF for Renfe). If the
proposed inter-modal station connects infrastructures from different owners, each owner is responsiblefor its part.
On the other hand, the transport planning instruments carried out by the ATM and the AMB include
other measures to encourage multi-modal trips (private and public) by developing Park and Ride stations
or procuring secure bike parks. In this case, the AMB is responsible for those inside the metropolitan
area of Barcelona.

Measures to encourage sustainable mobility
Leaving aside the development in new public transport infrastructure (such as new metro lines or the
expansion of existing tramway networks) that correspond to other administrations, the AMB is
responsible for the implementation of measures aimed at encouraging sustainable mobility, following
the directives put forward in the Mobility Law 9/2003 of Catalonia.
The Mobility Law 9/2003 constitutes the framework for the development of urban mobility plans in all
the municipalities of the metropolitan area, which are developed by each city council. The urban mobility
plans (PMU) for the municipalities forming the metropolitan area are knit together via the Metropolitan
Plan for Urban Mobility (PMMU), which is developed by the AMB. The main objective of the PMUs and
PMMU is to define short-term measures to encourage sustainable mobility.
Some of the measures most recently implemented or still under execution are described below.

Low Emissions Zone
Since 1 December 2017, episode situations of environmental air pollution in the Barcelona metropolitan
area can be declared. During such episodes, a series of measures will be triggered aimed at reducing
emissions of nitrogen dioxide and particles of less than 10 microns in diameter. The objective is to
reduce traffic by 10% in the next five years, and by 30% within 15 years in order to reach the levels
recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

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An environmental episode of high air pollution is defined as a situation in which the meteorologicalconditions are unfavourable for dispersion and ventilation. This may increase the concentration of one of
the two targeted pollutants, and may lead to an excess of the limit values established by legislation.
In the case of an episode declaration, the circulation of all cars and vans that have not received a label
issued by the General Directorate of Traffic identifying the level of emissions of the vehicle will be
prohibited. The affected vehicles are vans prior to Euro 1 (registered before 1994) and Euro 1 and priorcars (registered before 1997). The restriction applies to the Low Emissions Zone (ZBE), which can be seenin the figure below.
It is estimated that the restrictions in the ZBE of Barcelona will reduce 18% the urban emissions on both
NO2 and suspended particles with a diameter of less than 10 microns (PM10).
At the same time, to compensate the restrictions on private transport, special measures to improve thepublic transport network will also be applied, such as:Increase in the public transport offer during the episode of high air pollution.

Guidance and information about the closest P&R station.

Creation by the ATM of a transport ticket, for use only during the episode, to attract new
travellers (T-aire). The new title offers two trips on public transport at a price 10% lower thanthat of the 10-trip Card (T-10).

Creation of the T-verda card (green card) managed by the AMB, which entitles vehicle owners
who give up and demolish their vehicle to three years of free public transport. Beneficiaries must
not acquire any new vehicle during the term of three years.
Figure 16. Low Emissions Zone of Barcelona (in green)

Source: Departament de Territori i Sostenibilitat (2017).

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The declaration of poor air quality episodes is however merely a stepping stone to stronger restrictions.
As of 1 January 2020, there will no longer be episode declarations. Instead, there will be a permanent
prohibition of circulation within the ZBE of the above mentioned vehicles. Restrictions apply for working
days from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm.
The restricted zone will be enlarged in 2025, when the same vehicle restrictions will be applied in theentire metropolitan area.

New high-performance metropolitan bus network
Since 2012 a new orthogonal bus network has been under implementation in Barcelona. The systemaims to simplify and revitalise the existing bus network. The past bus network has been gradually
removed to give way to a high-frequency, easily-accessible, more sustainable and better-connected
network. It consists of a total of 28 bus lines which have been classified into horizontal, vertical anddiagonal services. This has improved commercial speed, user-understanding and fast transfers amonglines.
The new network has yielded positive results: urban bus demand in Barcelona has grown 13.7% in thepast five years (2012-17) following a period of continuing decline (-14.6% between 2007 and 2012)(TMB, 2018).
This has led the AMB to consider a new bus network at metropolitan scale that reproduces the system inBarcelona. While still under study, the idea is to create a high-capacity orthogonal network that would
significantly increase commercial bus speed. The network would connect the municipalities in themetropolitan area in an attempt to make the system more user-friendly, raise bus frequency, improve
inter-municipal connectivity, and ultimately to encourage sustainable mobility.

T-Mobility card
The T-Mobility card is a proposal that has long been under study, and it will come into service between
2018 and 2019. It consists of a new public transport payment system via a personal card. The fares willbe established according to the frequency of the user’s trips.
The body defining the characteristics of the card is the ATM.
In 2014 a coalition of companies named Catalan society for Mobility (SOC MOBILITAT), - formed by
Caixabank S.A, Fujitsu Technology Solutions S.A, Indra Sistemas S.A and Marfina S.L. - won the tender
process to develop the T-Mobilitat project. The contract is held by the ATM.
The T-Mobilitat is a contactless card that can be used as a physical plastic card, or in electronic format via
mobile phones with NFC technology. Initially, the T-Mobilitat will be used to buy the tickets and travelcards that are currently available. Later on, purchases will be virtual and tickets and travel cards will nolonger be paper cards with a magnetic strip. They will be available as a plastic card or in the app. Single
tickets may be paid by credit card.
The ATM aims to make T-Mobilitat useable via other devices, such as smartwatches. Paper tickets will
not disappear overnight, but will exist alongside the T-Mobilitat for a period of time. The idea is that the
88 travel cards currently in use will be phased out and a flat rate introduced for fare zone 1.

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The next step will be to introduce the T-Mobilitat throughout the metropolitan area, when payment will
be made at the end of the journey, depending on the distance travelled. Users will pay according to theirtravel habits and prices will be adjusted according to the number of kilometres covered and thefrequency with they travel on public transport.
Ultimately, the idea is to extend this new system to the whole of Catalonia. It will start in themetropolitan area of Barcelona, then extend to the RMB and finally it will be used in the rest of
Catalonia.
The arrangements included in the contract between the ATM and SOC MOBILITAT specify that thecontractor is responsible for (1) the acquisition, installation and maintenance of all the necessary
equipment required by the T-Mobilitat, (2) the implementation and management of a new customer
service centre, (3) the implementation and management of a new Transport Information Management
Centre, which will receive real-time information on the public transport network (4) the management,commercialisation and distribution of the new card’s supports (5) the management of the new selling
channels, and (6) publicity contracts and the management of the generated revenue (ATM, 2014).
The Transport Information Management Centre will build a database with all the information regarding
the public transport system. This will only be shared with the corresponding administrations via the ATM,and will help each administration in the planning of services. The contractor will create this centre and all
the systems feeding real-time information on the network’s users.
The Transport Information Management Centre will build a database with all the information regarding
the public transport system. Data will be collected from public transport operators (TMB, FGC, Renfe,
TRAM and other bus operators), traffic cameras and other information from local administrations andother stakeholders. Legal clauses specifying the format, regularity and proceedings of data sharing with
the Centre are yet to be defined.
The necessary software will be developed by the contractor, but both the contractor and the ATM will
provide personnel to the centre. Both the supply and demand data will be accessible by administrations(via special agreements with the ATM) and by the contractor.
The Mobility Department of the AMB and AMB Informació will be able to access the data provided by theCentre via institutional agreements with the ATM. The exact definition of these agreements is still underdevelopment, but both bodies have stated their desire for coordinative work.
These three measures are perhaps the most important, but there are others, such as: private vehicle
restrictions linked to urban plans, creation of super blocks to limit the access of private vehicles, theexpansion of the bike lane network in Barcelona or the construction of bus lanes at the entrance ofBarcelona.

Notes
1
2
3
4

An association of municipalities with urban public transport services.
Law 9/2003, of 13 June, of mobility.
Or the AMB in the case of the tramway.
For the Aerobús or the touristic bus lines.

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References
AMB (2015), Diagnosi del Transport Públic per al Pla Metropolità de Mobilitat Urbana de Barcelona.
AMB (2016), Dades bàsiques de mobilitat.
AMB (2017a), AMB tendered bus network: Contracts and Quality design.
AMB (2017b), Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona. Retrieved from www.amb.cat.
AMB (2017c), Mobility and transport.
AMB (2017d), NitBus. https://www.ambmobilitat.cat/Principales/BusquedaNitBus.aspx.
AMB (n.d.), http://www.amb.cat/s/web/amb/amb.html.
AMB, C.C. (2016), Gestión de la movilidad metropolitana hacia un modelo intergral.
AMB, J.M. (2017), Mobilitat i infraestructures de transport, principis configuradors.
ATM (2014), Contracte de col·laboració entre el sector públic i el sector privat per a l'execució delprojecte T-Mobilitat per a la implantació d'un nou sistema tecnològic, tarifari i de gestió.
ATM (2016), TransMet Xifres.
ATM (2017), Resum finançament del sistema a l'ATM de Barcelona.
ATM (2017), www.atm.cat/web/index_en.php.
Departament de Territori i Sostenibilitat (2017), Medi Ambient. Episodis ambientals de contaminació
atmosfèrica. http://territori.gencat.cat/ca/inici/.
OECD (2014), OECD.Stat. https://stats.oecd.org.
TMB (2017), Dades bàsiques.
TMB (2018), Premsa TMB. https://noticies.tmb.cat/sala-de-premsa/xarxes-de-transport-de-tmb-vanguanyar-mes-de-15-milions-de-passatgers-2017.

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Published 10/2018 | Photo credit: Shutterstock/Rawpixel.com

This paper describes the role of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB)
in the governance of public transport in Spain’s second-largest
agglomeration. It sets out how the AMB is able to provide integrated
transport management, planning, financing and decision-making acrossdifferent administrations and bodies of the Barcelona region, basedon a mandate that comprises territorial planning, environment andsustainability, housing, economic development and social cohesion.