Barcelona proves cities can make life easier for bikers, so why can't the UK?
Barcelona is introducing practical measures to improve motorcycle safety and traffic flow, raising the question of why UK cities continue to overlook riders.
For years, many European cities have seemed locked in a battle against private transport. Low-emission zones, reduced parking and traffic calming have often left motorcyclists feeling like collateral damage in a fight aimed squarely at cars. Barcelona, however, appears to be taking a different approach.
Rather than treating motorcycles as part of the problem, the Catalan capital has announced a series of measures designed to make riding both safer and easier, recognising the role powered two-wheelers play in keeping one of Europe's busiest cities moving.
Among the plans are new advanced stop areas at traffic lights, giving riders dedicated space ahead of other traffic before the lights change. The city is also expanding on-street motorcycle parking, with the long-term aim of moving thousands of bikes off pavements and into properly designated bays, reducing conflict with pedestrians while making parking simpler for riders. For anyone who rides a bike in one of the UK’s busy cities, it's a refreshingly pragmatic approach.
Rather than banning motorcycles or pricing them out of city centres, Barcelona is accepting that hundreds of thousands of journeys are already made on two wheels every day. If those riders disappear, many simply swap to cars, increasing congestion rather than reducing it.
The city's thinking is also backed by road safety experts. Motorcycle-specific infrastructure, clearer junction layouts and measures that separate riders from larger vehicles can all contribute to reducing collisions, particularly in busy urban environments. And while the number of riders per day in Barcelona is vastly more than London, it's difficult not to compare that with the UK.
While motorcycles are frequently promoted by industry bodies as a congestion-busting, lower-emissions alternative to the car, dedicated infrastructure remains rare. Advanced stop boxes for motorcycles are virtually non-existent, secure parking is often an afterthought, and many local authorities still appear to view powered two-wheelers as little more than another vehicle to discourage.
That's despite motorcycles taking up a fraction of the road space of a car, using less fuel and often helping to ease congestion during peak commuting hours. Barcelona seems to recognise this, but isn't of handing riders special treatment, it simply undertands that if motorcycles are going to remain part of the modern transport mix, the roads should reflect that reality.
Perhaps that's the lesson Britain's cities should be paying attention to. Instead of making life progressively harder for riders, they could start asking a simple question: if one of Europe's biggest cities can design its streets with motorcycles in mind, why can't we?
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
