New rules for tour buses going to Sagrada Familia

The dedication of the inside of the Sagrada Familia church and the completion of the works in the naves increased the number of paying visitors in 1 million just in 2011. And that's not counting the many tourists that just walk around it taking pictures.

The neighbors complaints have increased, and that has led the City Council to move the tour bus stops a couple of blocks further, in the hope to reduce the number of groups around the church.

Luckily, that's not going to affect most of my tours, as I usually move around with either subway/taxi or in private minivans for upto 6 passengers + guide + driver, and we'll still be able to stop right by the church.

However, bus tours will have to preview now longer times to visit the church as the walking involved from the bus and back will eventually take 20-30 extra minutes (depending on how big the group is and how long do you need to wait by the traffic lights to cross two busy streets).

The City Council has only previewed 2 exceptions: primary and secondary school groups, and groups with people having walking issues (as long as they have required a special authorization to the City Council in advance and that they can prove that they have a reservation to visit the inside of the Church).

While the neighbors seem happy with this solution, tourguides and travel agents aren't satisfied at all because they'll have to invest much more time for the church (time that will have to be taken from other city sites), and foresee the danger of having to cross too many busy streets with large groups to reach the church. Plus it won't even be allowed to drive around the church with the bus, what might imply eliminating the church from some itineraries due to a lack of time...

Personally, I'm not too convinced either and I believe that the neighbors will soon realize that the plan wasn't such a good idea: if before only the sidewalks around the church used to be crowded by tourists, now the problem will be extended to the nearby streets leading to the new bus stops. There the sidewalks aren't that wide, and there won't be enough space for even two groups trying to go through in opposite directions at the same time... And I don't want to even imagine when (illegal) street vendors start occupying the floors with their cheesy souvenirs and counterfeit bags, or when pickpockets start taking advantage of the chaotic crowds... Omg.

Anyway, let's see how everything goes...

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