(Valls, 54 years old) is the first deputy mayor of Barcelona City Council. Mayor Jaume Collboni’s right-hand man is responsible for ecology, urban planning and mobility policies.
Ask. There is one year left until the municipal elections. What would you highlight about your area?
Answer. We have unraveled projects such as the new Clínic, the transfer of firefighters in Eixample or the Vallcarca plan. , we invest in construction and manage land to have it ready, which has allowed us to go from building 500 homes per year to 1,000.
P. But it is not enough to stop the crisis.
R. That is why we want to recover those in the city for habitual housing. In Barcelona there will be no more tourist use licenses from November 2028.
P. From the portfolio, what would you highlight?
R. He is fundamental. Before summer, we will approve the financing agreement between the Generalitat and the City Council. Before the end of the mandate we will award the work. If construction begins in summer 2027, it will take 40 months from then on.
P. He is a record holder.
R. Demand is continually increasing. In a few months we will have the project for line 2 updated so that it reaches the Marina del Prat Vermell.
P. With the experience of the L9, will it take decades?
R. It is a bet worth hundreds of millions of euros and it will not be done in a few years. There are other projects for which we do not have the 20 years that have passed to connect the L9. I’m talking about extending L3 to the new Hospital Clínic and taking it to Esplugues and Sant Feliu de Llobregat. There are other projects such as extending L4 from La Pau to Sagrera. It is an urgent and priority work. The Sagrera high-speed station cannot come into operation if it is not connected to La Pau. It is also urgent to connect the two Trinitats separated by the Meridian. I’m not talking about L9 because, in a few months, the tunnel boring machine will have already built the tunnel.
P. Are there calendars for these projects?
R. L2 does not have a calendar, the project is being updated. It is difficult to execute L9 and L2 at the same time. The L3 to the Clínic and joining the two trinity and L4 from La Pau to Sagrera are urgent extensions and must be addressed in the short term.
P. The mayor said that he would like the metro to reach Mataró.
R. To Mataró, to Vilafranca, to Sabadell, Sitges, Granollers… we need public transport that has the same reliability as the metro. Interurban mobility is one of the city’s main challenges.
P. There are more users on intercity buses than on . Has the city had to redesign mobility?
R. Every day 270,000 people enter and leave Barcelona by bus. Before the Rodalies crisis, we had 6,000 daily shipments; now 7,000. The bus is more reliable than the train, but the infrastructure we have, with fifty docks, clearly affects public space a lot.
P. How can it be avoided?
R. Every day 25,000 people enter and leave Diagonal by intercity bus and there is no station. We cannot imagine rail transport without stations. We are studying how the access corridors to the city work: Diagonal, Meridiana, Gran Via Sur, Gran Via Norte and we have to think about what infrastructure is needed to provide a better service.
P. What infrastructure is needed?
R. but, above all, an infrastructure that does not unload 25,000 people directly on the street. We are working with the Generalitat and in the short term we will remodel and update about twenty intercity bus stops. These are projects that we will carry out in 2026 and works that will begin in 2027. In addition, in the medium or long term, we will put out to tender large interchanges. We do not need a large station in each corridor because mobility is different and so is the existing infrastructure.
P. What are they thinking about?
R. At the Sagrera high-speed station we have planned an underground intercity bus station. We have Fabra i Puig and the Nord station. In Plaza de Espanya, the project for what will be an underground station has been awarded. We must finish studying the size and type of infrastructure. The objective is that the number of intercity buses arriving in the center of Barcelona must be drastically reduced. We need to generate the infrastructure for this to happen and facilitate the intermodality of those points.
P. An intermodality that will be underground.
R. In the Plaza de España and in Sagrera it will be underground. In Meridiana, we have to update Fabra i Puig and in Diagonal it will have to be underground. There are several possibilities that are being studied from the criterion of intermodality. One option is Francesc Macià, which would connect buses with the L8 metro and tram. In Maria Cristina it would connect with L3 and would be close to L9.
P. But, so that the buses do not reach the city center, what can be done?
R. You have to imagine more stops in the four corridors. On the Meridiana there will be Fabra i Puig and Sagrera, but you have to imagine more stops on Gran Via Nord and Sur. If we plan an interurban station in Plaza de Espanya, that means that they will not reach Universitat.
P. Now Ronda Universitat and Gran Via are covert stations.
R. We need to free the center from intercity buses. We continue with the same scheme as 30 years ago at the entrances and exits of the city. The private vehicle today represents 40% of trips, our goal is to reduce 250,000 daily trips by private vehicle and transfer them to public transport. It will only happen if we give alternatives. The Rodalies investment will serve to improve it, but the investment in intercity buses is not only more flexible, it is more scalable and is perfectly compatible with the railway.
P. But it is not very modern, it runs on fossil fuel.
R. Fleets are changing and soon we will be able to bet on a decarbonized intercity bus service.
P. And the speed?
R. We need to think about road infrastructure with bus lanes. Where it has been done, in the B-23, C-58, C-32… we see important improvements. Speed has increased and demand has increased between 10% and 25%.
P. Does Laia Bonet want to continue the next term?
R. Yes, there are projects that are medium and long term and I want to continue working.
