Barcelona – Scooter city

Here’s a fact. In one day, walking from near Parallel to La Padrera, Sagrada Familia and back via La Rambla I counted 28 Honda CB250 motorcycles. After a short break there we had seen over 50 CB250s easily. In London I have seen about 15 CB250s in the 4 years I’ve been biking. Honda was closely followed by Yamaha 250s, but I think Honda won. Extraordinary.

In fact, Barcelona is completely sussed as far as city transport goes. The solution to traffic in congested cities in not imposing more taxes or raising the cost of public transport – but two-wheeled transport. Big 2 or 3 lane arterioles for cars, busses and taxis to move through easily. Motorbikes, scooters and cyclist whiz down the little streets. The dense high streets and malls, in other words, the inner belly of the city, is for pedestrians.