Line 116, cut from online maps, was made up of vehicles known as “neighborhood buses”, slightly larger than vans and with capacity for around 20 people.
According to elDiario.es, when the line appeared on Google Maps as one of the means of transport to access Parc Güell, groups of tourists began to fill the buses and the vehicles lost their main function, of taking residents to areas with few transport connections. transport and difficult to access.
“Before, it was so crowded that elderly neighbors would wait with their sticks for the next bus to pass because there was no space. Others no longer waited for the bus because it was always full and they started walking.” Luz López, a 75-year-old resident of the La Salut neighborhood, in an interview with elDiario.es
Since line 116 was erased from digital maps, buses have been circulating through the neighborhood with around ten people on board. “It took disappearing from Google for everything to change radically”, the driver of one of the buses, who was already familiar with the “anger” of neighbors who used the transport, told the portal.
For Cesca Sanchez, a member of an association of Park Güell neighbors, since the measure was implemented, neighborhood transport has once again belonged to the community.
“At first we laughed at the idea. But we are surprised that the measure was so effective. The next thing we need to do is remove the entire Park Güell from Google Maps,” he joked to the Spanish portal.
