Barcelona - Discover Spain: Experience the Best of Spain - page 154

Car & Motorcycle
An effective one-way system makes traffic flow fairly smoothly, but you'll often find
yourself flowing the way you don't want to go, unless you happen to have an adept
navigator and a map that shows one-way streets.
Limited parking in the Ciutat Vella is virtually all for residents only, with some
metered parking. The narrow streets of Gràcia are not much better. The broad
boulevards of L'Eixample are divided into blue and green zones. For nonresidents
they mean the same thing: limited meter parking. Fees vary but tend to hover
around €2.42 to €2.94 per hour. Parking stations are also scattered all over
L'Eixample, with a few in the old centre, too. Prices vary from around €3 to €4 per
hour.
Public Transport
Bus
The city transport authority, Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB;
010; www.tmb.net ) , runs buses along most city routes every few minutes from 5am
or 6am to 10pm or 11pm. Many routes pass through Plaça de Catalunya and/or
Plaça de la Universitat.
METRO & FGC
The TMB metro has seven numbered and colour-coded lines. It runs from 5am to
midnight Sunday to Thursday and holidays, from 5am to 2am on Friday and days
immediately preceding holidays, and 24 hours on Saturday. Line 2 has access for
people with disabilities and a growing number of stations on other lines also have
lifts.
Suburban trains run by the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC;
93 205 15 15; www.fgc.net ) include a couple of useful city lines. One heads north
from Plaça de Catalunya. A branch of it will get you to Tibidabo and another within
spitting distance of the Monestir de Pedralbes.
TICKETS & TARGETAS
The metro, FGC trains, rodalies/cercanías (Renfe-run local trains) and buses come
under one zoned fare regime. Single-ride tickets on all standard transport within
Zone 1 (which extends beyond the airport), except on Renfe trains, cost €1.40.