Public Transport in Barcelona is being made more accessible for all: Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) is committed to providing accessible Underground and Bus services for everyone in the city.

The Metro (Underground) Network.

Since the early 90's, as the Olympic Games where being prepared, TMB started a process in order to make transport in the city of Barcelona more accessible. Improving the accessibility of transport infrastructure benefits not only people with disabilities -might those be permanent or temporal- but also people with heavy luggage or shopping, parents with prams, seniors.

Those Metro (underground) lines recently built ( L2 and L11 ) provide elevators to link the street level with the main lobby in the station: from 1992 those stations under construction or being renewed feature accessibility upgrade works.

The new ticket dispensers, designed and built under strict accessibility criteria, are fitted with an ergonomic device to allow people in wheelchairs or people of reduced height to purchase the travelcards on their own using any of the following systems: banknotes, coins or credit card. These machines are fitted with a system for visually impaired people which through voice and Braille serigraphy, guides the customer all through the purchasing process. There are wider access gates to go through the payment line, and from this point another lift will take us to the platform.

The train and the platform are at the same level , and there is a space specially reserved for wheelchair users which is always located behind the driving cabin.

Paving and tactile ground surface indicators help people with vision impairments to find their way along the station: lifts provide acoustic information.

Accessible tube stations can be checked at:
www.tmb.net/es_ES/barcelona/bonviatge/llistatestacionsmetro.jsp
Clicking on the name of the station information on the exits is provided (where is the lift located if not in all exits).

TMB Bus Services.

About 80% of the fleet are low floor vehicles fitted with boarding ramps. There are wheelchair reserved spaces equipped with safety belts. Request stop buttons are placed at a lower height, more convenient for these passengers. Ticket validating devices give out visual and acoustic messages to make sure that visually or hearing impaired persons may operate the machine on their own.

Adapted bus lines are displayed at:
www.tmb.net/es_ES/barcelona/bonviatge/llistatliniestacionsbus.jsp

There are information screens at many bus stops which inform customers about the remaining time for the next bus to arrive on each line.

TMB iBus is the new TMB's service that allows you to know in real time the next bus pass prevision by your stop. To do so, you'll only need your mobile or any device providing Internet access.

TMB - Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona
Customer's Service Centre. Tel: (+34) 93 318 70 74
www.tmb.net

Rebecca Arce

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