The Área Metropolitana de Barcelona proposes to ban the circulation of vehicles with a yellow label in the ZBE from 2028 onwards, within the new Metropolitan Urban Mobility Plan 2025 2030 approved this Tuesday. The measure is framed within the adaptation to the directive of the Generalitat, which obliges cities of more than 50,000 inhabitants to limit this type of vehicles that same year and to extend the restriction to heavy vehicles in 2030.
The proposal affects the low-emission zone of the metropolitan area and must be materialized through the approval of the involved city councils, including that of Barcelona. The initial approval of the plan will be published in the DOGC and, from that moment, a 45-day public information period will open.
The restriction must pass through the city councils
The document approved by the AMB includes the expansion of access limitations to the ZBE to comply with the calendar set by the Generalitat. The entry into force of the prohibition will not be automatic, as it will require municipal processing and approval in each affected council.
In the case of Barcelona, that decision must also go through the City Council. The metropolitan plan sets the horizon of 2028 for passenger cars with a yellow label and of 2030 for heavy vehicles, in line with the autonomous community's regulations for municipalities with a larger population.
More metropolitan bicycle and expansion of AMBici
The plan also reserves a prominent role for cycling mobility. The AMB foresees expanding the metropolitan public bicycle service AMBici and extending the pedalable network to new areas of the metropolitan territory. The expansion would reach five municipalities of Vallès, the northern area of Baix Llobregat and a small part of Maresme.
In parallel, the metropolitan entity is working on a future integration with the Bicing system. That fit, however, remains pending. The current contract ends in 2030 and the plan itself admits that, despite the work towards a more coordinated system at a metropolitan scale, there is still no agreement with the government of Jaume Collboni.
The plan places the reinforcement of the bus as a priority
In public transport, the AMB focuses on improving the bus service. The strategy involves reviewing the ownership of some lines that run entirely through municipalities in the Barcelona area, with the idea of reorganizing management and strengthening the offer.
Among the planned measures are an increase in frequency, an improvement in commercial speed, and a reinforcement of service reliability. The objective is to make these lines more efficient and competitive within the metropolitan network in the coming years.
The processing of the plan now enters a public exhibition phase. It will be in that process and in the subsequent municipal debate where both the scope of the new restrictions in the ZBE will be specified, as well as the real calendar to deploy the rest of the mobility measures planned until 2030.