Public transport in Barcelona

Summary
Barcelona has easily available public transport within and outside the city. The fasted and most comfortable is Barcelona’s subway system covering just about all of the metro area with clean, well lit and easy to access stations. However metro stations sometimes are not well marked but if you ask a passing local, he will direct you to the entrance. Barcelona metro system consists of six lines and 123 stations. Also there is an urban railway line (FGC) and 4 streetcar lines, so you can move comfortably and quickly around the city.

The different lines are identified by a different color each and trains are running from 5AM to midnight on Mondays-Thursdays and Sundays and from 5AM to 2AM on Fridays, Saturdays and holidays. The metro is not only the quickest, but also the cheapest way to get around Barcelona. However, it doesn’t have all conditions and only the Purple Line (L3) is totally accessible for wheelchair users and just a few stations have lifts. Barcelona’s visitors can find unusual step onto the train which may require some assistance when boarding. During peak periods the metro becomes overcrowded and harder to manage and it’s better to avoid such periods. Before you go by metro it is better to plan the journey in advance to avoid ending up at a station without a lift. Also find out on which station the lift is exactly as several lines may intersect at the same station and you may not access all of them. Or else you will have to climb 3-4 flights without any escalators.

The bus network is more extensive and mainly you can catch a bus at three bus stations named after closest metro stations - Placa de Catalunya, Plaza Urquinaona and Placa de la Universitat. Due to traffic at rush tour a bus is much slower than metro, but if you wish to see Barcelona from better, extensive bus network (over 70 lines) will help you.

If you check the bus shelters you can find bus routes and a map of the city showing all the bus lines. New TMB's service - TMB iBus –will tell you in real time the next bus pass prevision by your stop. You'll just need your mobile or any device providing Internet access. With TMB iBus you are informed about the bus waiting time and you can choose the most convenient transport combination for your ride. This new service connects 750 buses and 2.000 stops in Barcelona.

The NITBUS (night bus) runs between 11pm and 3 or 4 a.m. with interval of around every 30 to 45 minutes. The color of night bus is yellow and all of them stop at Pl. Catalunya.

How to buy and use tickets for Barcelona public transport? In Barcelona visitors can buy tickets for individual journeys for the metro at 1.30 Euros per ticket. However purchasing individual tickets for each journey can be expensive if you travel more than 3 times on public transport. Tourists are advised to buy either a T10 or the travel and discount card called the Barcelona Card. A T10 costs only 7.20 Euros and you don’t have to buy individual tickets for each journey and don’t spend so much money. As normal single journey ticket costs you 1.30 Euros, and T10 is for 10 journeys and with T10 you save 5.80 Euros!

You can buy a T10 in Barcelona from any metro stop and from the Airport at the entrance to the RENFE train. However you should know that the T10 has different zones. For example, Zone 1 is valid for journeys in Barcelona City Centre Zone 1 on the metro, FGC and TMB buses, Tram and RENFE. And if you need to travel outside of Zone 1 you have to buy a different T10 zone ticket covering other zones. And although the T10 is valid on the RENFE train to the airport but it is not valid on the Aerobus (the express bus service to the airport).

Entering the metro with T10 ticket you have to put it into a ticket validation machine. Validation machine checks the ticket and marks it with date and time stamp. After you pull the ticket out of the machine slot, the turnstile lock is released and you can pass through.

When you are inside of BARCELONA you may want to see the whole city and take a tourist bus for city tour. The bus will take you around the city and you can stop anywhere you wish. Tourists may found three fixed routes (Blue line, Red line and Green line) which explore all the main sights of Barcelona. You can get on and off tourist buses whenever you want with the same ticket. You can even buy one or two day tickets in main tourist information centers and in TMB customer service centers.