The City Council will allow the use of private vehicles in matches

by time news

BarcelonaMontjuïc is starting to be a word that is used on a daily basis in the Barça environment. Until recently it was still generally seen as a distant subject that did not feel like talking about, but the image of the bite in the third stand of the south goal, the awarding of the remodeling of the Camp Nou to the Turkish company Limak, the search for financing and the start of adaptation works of the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium to prepare the arrival of the Barça have made the issue inevitable. In fact, the board of directors of Joan Laporta recently called the members to a meeting to learn about their concerns regarding the provisional transfer to Montjuïc, which will begin this summer to speed up the bulk of the works at the Camp Nou.

One of the data provided by the Barcelona club is worrying: only 25,000 season ticket members out of the 82,000 at the Camp Nou plan to watch the Barça matches in Montjuïc. One of the main reasons is that the club announced at first that it will not be allowed to reach the magical mountain by private vehicle on the days that the Blaugrana team plays there. “Among the aspects that have aroused the most interest, we must highlight the accessibility of the stadium area, an issue in which progress has been made that it will not be possible to access it by private vehicle, with the exception of people with mobility reduced and of the coaches of the fans”, explained the statement that Barça made public after the meeting with the members. In addition, club sources insisted to the ARA that “the ban on going up to Montjuïc in a private vehicle on match days will be total, with the exception of authorized vehicles”.

But this intention contrasts with that of Barcelona City Council, as this newspaper has learned. Sources from the municipal council explain that “access will not be prohibited as such nor will it be cut off”. They only point out that “it will be limited by the capacity of the stadium and its surroundings, which cannot absorb the entire volume of private vehicles from the public that will go to the matches”. In this sense, the council says that “it’s already happening a bit at the Camp Nou, that people mostly go there by public transport”.

In fact, the president himself Joan Laporta pointed out in the press conference this Thursday that “all motorcycles will be able to access it, it will not be restricted to a specific number”. But he did not clarify what will happen to private cars. “The issue of the parking lots is being resolved”, he limited himself to saying, and moved a more specific answer to a future press conference dedicated exclusively to the move to Montjuïc.

More ticket sales

If it ends up being confirmed that only 25,000 season ticket members are interested in attending Barça matches in Montjuïc, the news would have both a bad and a good part. The bad thing is that most of the subscribers would take a leave of absence for a period of time that is already considered to be up to two years due to logistical obstacles. This would surely cause the atmosphere in Montjuïc to be less lively than what is now at the Camp Nou.

The good thing is that season ticket holders interested in attending the matches should not depend on a lottery to achieve their goal, although Laporta explained that it will be a “season ticket without an assigned seat”. On the other hand, for its board, the decrease in the presence of subscribers will provide a greater margin when selling tickets with the purpose that the march to Montjuïc does not entail a big dent in the club’s income, which calculates that they can decrease, at least, by 100 million per year while Barça is away from the Camp Nou. In any case, as already explained by the ARA, the club will not be able to make use of the full capacity of the Olympic Stadium, of around 56,000 spectators. Due to visibility problems, the capacity of the venue will have to be limited. Laporta announced that the capacity will be around 49,000 people. Sources from the club have told ARA that, in the worst case, it could have to be reduced to 40,000.

On the other hand, the club plans a series of measures agreed with the City Council to encourage people to come to Montjuïc by public transport, by bike or on foot. The improvement of access to the Olympic mountain has a budgeted cost of 7.2 million, of which Barça will take care of 64% (4.61 million), and the City Council, the remaining 36% (2.59 million) . Some of the new developments will be to install bus shuttles on match days, strengthen the funicular services and extend the metro schedule when necessary. A cycle path will also be built, three new Bicing stations will be installed and the lighting of the Montjuïc paths will be improved.

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