The Vice-President of Moventia and CEO of Moventis, Josep Maria Martí, was a key speaker at the 2nd Barcelona Desperta Forum, an event organised by the media group encompassing Crónica Global, Metrópoli Abierta and El Español. Aimed at tackling the major challenges that will define the future of ‘Great Barcelona’, the forum was also attended by the President of the Regional Government of Catalonia, Salvador Illa, and the city mayor, Jaume Collboni, among other important speakers.

Against that backdrop, Josep Maria Martí took part in the round table discussion on metropolitan mobility that was moderated by Alejandro Tercero, Director of Consumidor Global. The debate also involved Pere Macias, Regional Government of Catalonia Commissioner for the Transfer of Rodalies, and Josep Mateu, President of the Royal Automobile Club of Catalonia (RACC). The experts agreed on highlighting that traffic congestion is the main problem being faced by the city at the moment. They therefore stressed the need to tackle the public transport challenge from a dual perspective, both network and infrastructure. “The goal”, said the experts, “is to achieve safe mobility that can contribute to improving the economy while also being sustainable”.

In his talk, Josep Maria Martí underlined the importance of public transport as a key factor in mobility and the economic development of Barcelona. “It is the backbone of mobility in our city”, he said. Nonetheless, he also stressed that existing data show there is room for improvement. Of the 20 million journeys made every day across the province of Barcelona, only 3.3 million are made on public transport.

The CEO of Moventis also used his talk to call on institutions to increase the services on intercity lines that connect Barcelona with its surrounding areas daily. According to Josep Maria Martí, these lines (especially those that come into the city from El Vallès and El Maresme) have experienced a 38% increase in demand since last year. “As a result, the number of buses running on these lines linking Barcelona with the second and third rings should be doubled”, he said.

In terms of infrastructure, he also highlighted the need to upgrade the Metro Sagrera interchange, one of the main inter-connection points in the city. “The infrastructure works well but, to improve people’s comfort, we need to provide an area that is under cover so that people can protect themselves when it rains or is very hot outside”, he said. He also called for improvements at information points “so that a better public transport service can be offered”.

The discussion also touched on other topics of interest, such as the future plan for the Rodalies service and the importance of not demonising the use of private vehicles.

The 2nd Barcelona Desperta Forum will take place from 25 to 27 September at the Palau Macaya in order to generate ideas and solutions for the challenges being faced by the city.