A bus stop to a popular tourist destination in Barcelona is being hidden from tourists so locals don't get overwhelmed.
The number 116 stops at Antoni Gaudí’s Park Güell, which is the second most popular attraction in the city after the Sagrada Familia church. Those who don't want to walk, cycle or get a taxi to the park will likely opt for a bus to La Salut neighbourhood of the Spanish city.
In recent years residents of the borough have become increasingly tired of their presence and the sheer number of day trippers who have been clogging up the buses. Rather than hitting the streets in protest or slapping some anti-tourist graffiti on the wall, locals may have found a solution to their woes.
Barcelona's council has seemingly had the route wiped from Google and Apple maps, so those visiting the city who do not have good knowledge of the public transport system will not know which bus to catch or where to catch it.
La Salut’s residents are delighted with the efforts to deter the crowds, particularly the elderly who have struggled to deal with overcrowding on the public transport service, Euronews reports. The cramped confines of the 20-seater minibus which serves the route and its narrow alleyways often struggle to take all those who want to hop on.
“Before, the bus was so full even people with walking sticks couldn’t get on,” Luz López, 75, told Spanish news site elDiario.es.
It has not been confirmed whether the council is responsible for having the bus route removed, but it is thought to have been. A Google spokesperson told The Guardian that bus routes could only be deleted following a request from the council.
As with many other parts of Spain, Barcelona has long been struggling with the slightly poisoned chalice of being so popular with tourists. Just 1.6 million people are lucky enough to call Barcelona home, while close to 32 million visit it each year. That can leave the place feeling quite overwhelmingly busy during the high season.
Barcelona locals are not ones to sit back and engage in some armchair activism. For 15 years they have been loudly hitting the streets, erecting signs calling tourists 'bastards' and 'terrorists', demanding "go home" and referring to their as city “Carcelona” - ‘carcel’ meaning ‘prison’.
In a bid to tackle the issue of overtourism, the local government stopped issuing any new licences for tourist accommodation, and new regulations have been introduced to reduce the number of short term private lets. A lengthy process to move all cruise ships out of the central city port is also underway, after Barcelona was found to have the most polluted port in Europe.
Tourists who breach certain rules such as a ban on smoking on the beach also face being landed with a hefty financial penalty.
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