The mobile app already has over 50,000 users

The ONaparcar residents mobile app, which lets residents registered with AREA manage parking for their vehicles, has managed to gain widespread use among citizens in its first six months of life. ONAparcar Residents already has over 50,000 users, which translates into over half of active residents (52%) now generating their parking permits through the app. The possibility of personalising the number of days the parking permit is valid led to 56% of users obtaining permits for over 31 days, the majority through year end. Another 30% of permits were obtained for periods from one to seven days, while the remaining 14% had validity periods from eight to 31 days. Easy, fast and flexible ONAparcar Residents makes managing parking easier, faster and more flexible for users, as being able to have the app issue the permit means that they no longer have to look for a parking meter or get the permit via the website. Further, residents no longer have to go back to their cars to leave a printed permit, as AREA traffic wardens can verify parking validity by entering the number plate into the app. The app also displays a map of the exact area in which each resident is authorised to park. Users can view a detailed history with all of the valid permits by number plate and can also pay parking tickets. The app offers users top usage guarantees, given that Catcert certifies the time counting process and payment with card is secure and done via the PCI DSS standard.
More information at www.areaverda.cat

Over 2000 students conduct experiments on the park’s rides and shows, in a day organised with the UPC Engineering Physics Department

Tibidabo Amusement Park turned into a large science laboratory today. The Fisidabo experimentation day, jointly organised by the park and the UPC Engineering Physics Department, let over 2000 students in year 4 of compulsory secondary and in higher secondary conduct diverse physics experiments using the rides. Councillor Eloi Badia, president of Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (B:SM) and PATSA, stressed the importance of ‘Tibidabo Amusement Park transforming into a large research centre to bring science closer to students’. Badia also commented that ‘it is a privilege to be able to establish such an activity with the UPC, making the park available to science and education so that year 4 of compulsory secondary and higher secondary students can experience and experiment with physics first-hand’.
 
On his part, UPC rector Francesc Torres was pleased that ‘collaboration with the city lets closer links be created with the educational community’ and ‘bringing science and engineering to youth is excellent for encouraging career choices among students'. The purpose of this day is for students to learn about physics by actively taking part in the learning process in a fun and entertaining setting. Thus, those concepts that may be difficult to explain on a blackboard can be experienced live and first-hand, and students can calculate and measure the concepts. The experiments conducted include—for example—calculating the feeling of weightlessness on the Pirate ride and the circular movement of the Diavolo. The Fisidabo Hipàtia project was also held, in which three groups of international advanced secondary groups from the CELLEX Science and Maths programme conducted the experiment that they created and designed. Last year, two of the Fisidabo Hipàtia projects were published in the European Journal of Physics.
 
Weekend scientific activities On the 14th and 15th, all visitors to the park could enjoy a wide range of science shows and workshops, in which experiments were done along with learning about important scientists like Archimedes, Newton and Stephen Hawking. The activities held were: Lights and photons: clown show in which participants become light photons to immerse themselves in quantum physics and the Schrödinger’s cat experiment. Coriolis force and planets: on the Tibidabo Airplane we can prove how it is possible for a plane to fly from Barcelona to Sydney while the Earth is spinning. Optics and perception: On Miramiralls, with water, glass, glycerine, a curved mirror and a lens that created optical illusions, we will discover how light reflects and refracts to form images. But sometimes what we see is not reality! Pendulum and mass: Via simple experiments we will discover that nature is full of pendulums both large and small, like the Pirate ship, where we feel the same sensation as the astronauts at a space station. Newton and energy: how to make a rocket fly? We will experiment with energy by making a water bottle fly by using a simple bicycle pump. Water and Archimedes: If we put a piece of iron into a bucket full of water, the iron will sink to the bottom. So why don’t iron ships sink? Stars of Stephen Hawking: We paint stars, planetary nebulae and galaxies on paper and, in parallel, pay a small homage to Stephen Hawking. Chemistry and the elements: We are all made up of very tiny things: chemistry. Support to the painting workshop. Natural sciences: Two scientists explain different science concepts using different dynamics such as stories and micro-participative workshops. On Sunday 15 April there was a closing ceremony hosted by all the scientists from the previous activities. This is a hands-on participative show in which visitors could experiment with liquid nitrogen and see how it can behave like magic, all in a festive setting.

Funds collected will be allocated to the Servei Solidari Foundation, which centres on literacy for people at risk of social exclusion

Barcelona Serveis Municipals (B:SM) joins the ‘Recycle Culture’ initiative run by the Servei Solidari Foundation, selling donated used books and roses the Sant Jordi Day at a symbolic price. The funds collected from ‘Recycle Culture’ will be wholly donated to the foundation's programme aimed at literacy and language learning for social inclusion.  Sale points are:

-    B:SM Customer Service Office (C/Calàbria 66)
-    Barcelona Zoo
-    Fabra i Puig Bus and Coach Station
-    Barcelona Nord Bus & Coach Station  
-    Forum Park
-     Park Güell Social action The Servei Solidari Foundation works to foster the full independence of youth and adults at risk of social exclusion, conducting mentoring, accompaniment and shelter tasks. This initiative is framed within the social and volunteer actions of B:SM, whose mission includes a commitment to keep working to improve citizens’ quality of life and to contribute to a fairer and more sustainable society.

Gran Vista and Mühlberg streets define the new AREA Zone 25

Starting on 16 April, street parking will be regulated on Gran Vista street so that neighbours will have parking priority. All residents owning a vehicle registered to their address can start to enjoy special resident parking in the new Zone 25. Moreover, resident parking spaces are being reorganised on Mühlberg street and will no longer be part of Zone 23 and will instead become part of Zone 25. Parking spaces in this new Zone 25 will be for the exclusive use of residents and will be identified with white paint and the word ‘RESIDENTS’ written on each space. During upcoming days, neighbours in the new Zone 25 will be mailed a letter to their homes with information on their new resident zone, as well as how resident parking works. For the neighbours on Gran Vista street, as this street is newly added to AREA, they will also receive an identification card so they can take advantage of resident parking rights in this zone.
 
Obtaining resident parking permits To obtain resident permits for parking, we recommend that residents use the free mobile app exclusively for residents: ONaparcar Residents. This app lets you obtain parking permits for between one day and—at most—until the end of the year. As the permit is digital, it can be verified securely in real time by traffic wardens’ devices and, thus, residents do not need to use parking metres or put any paper receipt or permit on their cars.

No parking metres will be installed in the new Zone 25, although residents who do want to use the metres to obtain their permits can use the ones available at any of the other resident parking zones.

For further information and to download the app:
www.areaverda.cat
barcelona.cat/appresidents

Zoo visitors can enjoy a wide range of activities, all included in the ticket price, offering an entertaining and educational experience

Visitors can see our new Pas de Deux at the Marionetarium, and the closing show Geronimo Stilton and the Enigmatic Letters  

The days are organised jointly with the company Ro-Botica, and with the participation of TBKids and LEGO® Education On Saturday 24 and Sunday 25, Tibidabo Amusement Park will celebrate Robotics Weekend with a range of innovative activities centred on robots, which will let visitors see and learn about this technology in a fun and educational way. The event is being organised jointly with the company Ro-Botica, a sector leader, and TBKids will be participating. Further, LEGO® Education representative Troels Dyhrman will attend, who will present the new CREATIBI space, where workshops will be done using LEGO materials. Several building workshops have been prepared with different robotic technologies, Fischertechnik and Littlebits (used to build segways) and 3D computer modelling platforms, featuring Star Wars games. There will also be activities so that visitors get the chance to interact with robots, such as the Humanoid Edbot, Robot Albert, with whom visitors can play sports and develop their creativity, the LEGO robots and the Bee-Bot and Blue-Bot, which will let participants learn programming while enjoying the park. All participants will also be entered into a drawing to win a ‘Tibidabot’, a robot like the one that will be used in some of the activities.
 
Educational robotics Conferences will also be given on the educational advantages of robotics, increasingly present in our daily lives. Educational robotics let us work across the fundamental subjects for technologically advanced societies, including the sciences, technology, engineering, arts and maths, and let skills be learned such as responsibility, team work and interest in research. The Robotics Weekend is linked to the City Educational Project being promoted by the city council, expressing Barcelona’s educational vision and vocation as a basic tool for social development and cohesion. Further, it is aligned with the STEMCat Plan that the Catalan Autonomous Government started up in February to encourage youth to study scientific degrees.

B:SM promotes these actions to bring the Park closer to its immediate surroundings

On February 26, some of the Park Güell professionals gave a talk to the students of 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade of the Baldiri i Reixac School. The objective was to make them participants in the different professions that coexist in the Park and what their daily tasks are: the management of the entrance of visitors, neighbors and schoolchildren to the Monumental Core, the guided visits, and how to continue integrating the architecture within the natural landscape, one of the wills of Antoni Gaudí.

B: SM will continue to promote this type of initiation that allows you to bring heritage closer to its immediate environment.

The Baldiri i Reixac school is a center for Pre-school and Primary Education that is located within the Monumental Core. All the students and their families have a free access card to the Park, as well as the rest of the surrounding schools and the neighbors of the adjoining neighborhoods.

Among the brand new attractions are the Castle of Stories and the premiere of the documentary "We’re All Tibidabo"

On Saturday 3 March, Tibidabo Amusement Park kicks off the new season, with 4 core strategic aims: an even better visitor experience, social responsibility events, new educational projects and environmental sustainability. The longer opening hours introduced last year will continue: the doors open at 11:00 a.m., but the ticket office and the Panoramic Area will be open from 10:30. Plus, the Park will stay open every day throughout August. New attractions: the Castle of Stories Among the brand new attractions, visitors can enjoy the new “Castell dels Contes” (Castle of Stories), a place inhabited by ghosts, ogres and wizards, who are waiting to share the secrets of the stories with anyone who wants to help keep them. Visitors must interact with those who dwell in the castle and enter the many magical corners where they can try to identify scenes from the most well-known stories.
The idea of the castle is to recapture the imagination and the heart, in children and adults alike, with the tradition of storytelling. The opening of the Castle of Stories is planned for the summer, and from the beginning of the season, visitors to the Park can take part in putting it together, by adding their own favourite stories to help build an everlasting library.

Another of the new attractions is the "Virtual Express", a virtual-reality attraction pioneered in Catalonia. This is a totally immersive ride in 4 dimensions, combining the classic express train with the adrenaline and futuristic feel of virtual reality. “Emotions of Terror” at Tibidabo This year, the production "Emocions de por” (Emotions of Terror) is back, following its success last season, when it was enjoyed by more than 5,500 spectators. A completely revamped programme of activities and shows is on offer, in which actors from the renowned Hotel Krüger will bring scary stories to life for Park visitors. This year, there will be even more activities taking place, with visitors able to enjoy different shows on more days. The documentary "Tots som Tibidabo" (We’re All Tibidabo) is being developed, telling the story of the Park’s history, and put together with pictures from down the years, contributed by visitors. Plus, there’ll be new daily closing ceremonies and a new show at the Marionetarium puppet theatre, as well as the traditional "Mes de la Magia” (Magic Month) and the "Mostra de Titelles” (Puppet Show).
 
Educational projects Among its educational projects, the Park is working on bringing in new ways of learning, both for children and adults. With this in mind, the weekend of 24 and 25 March will be Robotics Weekend, with workshops and activities all about robots, while October will be Food Month, in partnership with the Alicia Foundation. There will also be new activities in the CreaTibi play area, such as "make your own robot", and new guided tours of the Park too. Tibidabo Amusement Park also continues to work together with educational establishments such as the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), which is jointly behind Fisidabo, an educational activity which sees the Park transformed into a giant physics laboratory for over 2,000 students. Better accessibility With the aim of being more approachable and accessible to all, the Park is offering a pre-visit welcome pack and a guided map, containing descriptive pictograms which give a taste for the Park’s attractions and shows, to help people with disabilities before and during their visit. Commitment to social responsibility and the environment Tibidabo Amusement Park is committed to being part of the community, striving year after year to run different socially responsible projects and initiatives for the benefit of all. Last year, there were 12 social responsibility days, in which more than 90,000 people took part, and grants were awarded to 6,900 disadvantaged children. This new season, the Park is expected to host 19 social responsibility events in partnership with several non-profit organisations, as well as the traditional festivals "Un cop de mà” (Lending a Hand), “Pallapupas” (a charity specialising in drama and circus fun), “la Festa dels Avis” (Grandparents’ Festival), “la Cançó de Pau” (Peace Song) and the “festa d’Unicef” (UNICEF Festival), for which Tibidabo has been a partner since 2012. Record visitor numbers In 2017, the Park received a record-breaking number of visitors for one season, welcoming a total of 732,574 – an average of 4,666 people a day.