The Tibidabo held a Solidarity party to raise funds in benefit of the victims of Nepal earthquakes, organized along with the Consulate General of Nepal. With this event, which featured many elements of the Nepali culture and tradition, Tibidabo Amusement Park makes another step in its social work, attending this international. 

People could also collaborate, and for their contribution, they were given a Khata, a traditional element that symbolizes pureness and compassion. The event counted with the support of 12 non-governmental organizations that are closely related with the Asian country.

The two earthquakes that shook Nepal (April 25th and May 12th), with 7.8 and 7.3 degrees on the Richter scale respectively, left nearly 10,000 dead and about 20,000 wounded, and 1 million people have been affected. The UN has estimated losses at approximately 5,200 million dollars and, until now, international solidarity has been able to raise about 18 million euros, which means that there’s still a long way for Nepal to recovered its normalcy.

For more information, make contact with comunicacio@bsmsa.cat

The Catalan Company AMAT Immobiliaris, has won the VII Factor Humà Mercè Sala Award. The jury, made up of personalities who knew Mercè Sala and of previous winners of this award. AMAT has been rewarded for their success, innovation, pragmatism, global vision and human touch.

Factor Humà foundationalso recognises the company for pursuing excellence in a long-term vision, something infrequent in the sector, and for its commitment to people. The Factor Humà Mercè Sala Awars has become a reference has become a reference in the field of Human Resources in Catalonia and Spain. It has gathered 350 important personalities from the economic, political and social areas. The theme of this year ceremony was humor, optimism and resilience in the workplace.

The Human Factor Foundation was promoted by Merce Sala in 1997. It is an organization that aims to contribute to the improvement of the management of people in organizations, and it is the great observatory in the field of Human Resources in Catalonia. The Factor Humà Foundation is formed by a group of 53 major companies and partner organizations, 23 of which form the Company Board.

For more information, please contact comunicacio@bsmsa.cat

Park Güell has received the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence 2015 due to the good ratings given by the uses of this website during the last year. The Park maintains a 4,5 out of 5 rating, with a 96,6% of positive opinions from a total of 21.648 comments. Furthermore, it is rated as the 15th better things to do in Barcelona. Last year, Park Gúell received the Traveller’s Choice Award as the best park in Europe, given also by TripAdvisors users.

Tripadvisor is the social travelling website with a the largest community on the Internet, with 340 million unique visits per month and 78 million registered users in the 45 countries in which is is available.

For more information, please contact comunicacio@bsmsa.cat

The Barcelona Zoo has welcomed the 2 newborn gorillas, and with them that make 3 in the last 2 months, after Akiba, the one who was born in March. Both babies are in perfect health according to preliminary examinations performed by their caregivers, and their evolution is being positive, as well as their mothers’. The western lowland gorilla is a critically endangered species.

The first bvaby was bron the 1rst of May. Its mother, Machinda, is the older gorilla at the Zoo, she is 37 years old and daughter of Snowflake. She is a experienced mother that has given so much help to Ntua, the mother of the second baby, born 2 days after. That is the first time Ntua has become a mother, even though she is inexperienced, she is being a exemplary one.

The birth of these gorillas is part of European Endangered species Programme (EPP) that ensures a sustainable genetic and demographic ex situ population, consisting of 463 individuals (211 males and 252 females).

For more information, please contact comunicacio@bsmsa.cat

Vodafone Bicing service, which has just celebrated the 8th anniversary, has reached 100 million trips since it was established in Barcelona in March 2007, becoming the first bike sharing service to reach this figure in the whole state. The trip number 100 million took place on 4 May at 15: 30h, when the user Francisco Alvarez left the bike at the station 75, located at Avinguda Josep Tarradellas. In recognition of that, Bicing has given the user a check valid for two years of free subscription to the service.

The service has launched a new mobile app based on gamification. The app assesses the trips of every user and quantifies this three parameters: saved grams of C02, burned calories, and the level of happiness, equivalent to the level of endorphins released after making a health activity. For each trip, according to these three variables, and depending on the type of trip (up or down, longer or shorter, etc.) the game gives points to each player, which are changeable for various gifts.

 For more information, please contact comunicacio@bsmsa.cat

The new regulation of the Urban Freight Distribution, which corresponds to the loading bays, has been deployed all over Barcelona after the successful pilot test done in Passeig de Gràcia. The aim of areaDUM is to update and upgrade this management system in Barcelona and to look for a major mobility in the city, while providing solutions through mobile technology.

The first of July, the time disc will cease to be valid, and areaDUM will be mandatory for everyone, but both systems will coexist until then. Besides of the mobile app, there is a SMS system for those who doesn’t have Smartphone to manage their areaDUM parking as well.

For more information check out http://www.areaverda.cat/en/operation-with-mobile-phone/apparkb/ or send an email to comunicacio@bsmsa.cat

Barcelona de Serveis Municipals collaborates with the Polytechnic University of Catalunya on the postgraduate programme of Smart Mobility. As a result of this cooperation, most of B:SM’s activity will be object of study, such as the electric Bicing project, apparkB and areaDUM and final project to the students will be presented. Furthermore, Òscar Puigdollers, chief of the Studies and R+D+i unit will be part of the faculty of the postgraduate.

It is the third edition of the course, which has become a pioneer in Spain, being the unique programme that teaches management of Smart Cities and Smart Mobility. The course begins the 20th of February- Check out more information about it in www.talent.upc.edu.

Last December 26th, a sooty mangabey baby was born at the Barcelona Zoo. The baby is in good health conditions and is already with the mother, the two can now be seen at the primate gallery. This birth confirms the success of the European Endangered Programmeme for the preservation and reproduction of this specie, which is coordinated in Barcelona. The sooty mangabey is one of the most threatened primate species around the world.

The mother is called Mónika, she was born in Barcelona in 2009 and, despite this is her first baby, she has been able to take care of his child from the very first moment. The father is called Racky, a 11 years old mangabey who came to Barcelona from Accra (Ghana) almost a year ago. 

The Barcelona Zoo coordinates this Programmeme of preservation for the sooty mangabey, with the objective of maintaining a sustainable population of mangabeys, in order to contribute to the “in situ” and “ex situ” preservation of the specie.

The programmeme started in 1999 with 41 individuals divided in 10 different groups. Their reproduction was irregular and with high rates of consanguinity. Nowadays, there are 80 individuals in 15 EAZA institutions, which indicates not only the success of the programmeme but also that they have to keep working and improving. 

The programmeme pioneered the “ex situ” preservation when in 2003 the Zoo of Accra, located into the native area of the sooty mangabey joined in. The incorporation of the Zoo of Accra helped to strengthen the “in situ” programmeme by the WAPCA (West African Primate Conservation Action) since it increased the genetic variability of the population by incorporating wild specimens from confiscation. Barcelona Zoo is a member of WAPCA since it was founded in 2001.

Beyond this collaboration for the "in situ" conservation of the species, the Barcelona Zoo Foundation has awarded, between 2011 i 2013, 3 PRIC grants worth almost 32.000€, designed to conduct studies and rehabilitation of the facilities for the mangabeys in Accra. The Foundation also includes this preservation programme within its crowdfunding platform, through which everyone can make their contributions to promote this and other projects.

The natural habitat of the sooty mangabey is located in West Africa (Ghana, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso), and the wild population is decreasing drastically due to the reduction and disappearance of the forests, but also due to hunting for human consumption. It is listed as an endangered species on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and is considered one of the 25 most endangered primates in the world.

Barcelona Zoo Foundation launched the application for new grants for research and conservation projects for 2014. Fulfilling its main aim, the Foundation aids to promote projects that share values of conservation, education, protection, awareness and preservation of wildlife and biodiversity. Barcelona Zoo Foundation offers the possibility of obtaining the Snowflake grant, the Antoni Jonch grant and the PRIC grants.  

Snowflake grant, the tenth edition of this grant dedicated to the albino gorilla, is given to the best research project in primates. The projects must be in line with the disciplines of interest: conservations, genetics, reproduction, communications or animal welfare in captivity or in the wild, among other detailed in the application rules. The grant for the 2014 edition of this scholarship consists of a maximum financial contribution of 9,000 € during the period of one year. Last year, the winner project was “Phylogeographical analysis of gorillas through mitochondrial DNA”, by Irene Hernando from the Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC) - Universitat Pompeu Fabra. 

The grants on the Barcelona Zoo Research and Conservation Programme, aids those projects within the framework of the programme rules, in accordance with the research lines of the Foundation. Barcelona Zoo foundation the Barcelona Zoo Foundation will generally pay up to a third of the total annual budget of the submitted and approved project. Consequently, one of the necessary requisites for a project to be approved must be its ability to self-finance. Thirteen grants were given last year to different projects on research and conservation for a total of 40. 

To conclude with, Barcelona Zoo Foundation also offers the Antoni Jonch grant, in memory of the former Zoo director between 1956 and 1987. As it is indicated in the application rules, this grant is intended for research projects on local fauna. In its second edition, the grant of this scholarship consists of a maximum financial contribution of 6,000 € during the period of one year. In 2013, the beneficiary of the grant was the project “Effect of transport infrastructure on the fragmentation of populations of natterjack toad (Bufo calamita)”, by Núria Garriga from the Universitat de Barcelona.

Applications for grants must be sent, along with the project, in pdf, to fundaciobarcelonazoo@bsmsa.cat. The deadline for applications ends on May 15th, at 2 p.m. For more information take a look on the next link: 

Next Saturday, March 1st, the 2014 season will be starting at the Tibidabo Amusement Park. This new season comes full of novelties, among them the new Panoramic Wheel, a popular competition, in conjunction with Unicef, to choose a mascot for the Park, the 10th anniversary of Tibiclub and the educational project Tibinet. Also, during the season, special activities and a lot of surprises will be organized, and new presents will be presented, a part of the current presents in the transportation to the Park or in other places of entertainment.

The Wheel, with 16 cabins, one of them adapted for disabled people, has 20 metres of diameter and a capacity for 750 people per hour. After the dismantling of the old wheel, in 2010, and listening to the suggestions of the visitants, the decision of mounting a new wheel was rapidly taken. The new Panoramic Wheel will maintain its traditional location at 500m high over Barcelona, to strengthen its virtue of panoramic vision.

Among the season novelties it also has to be pointed out the popular competition that will be hold, in conjunction with Unicef, to choose a mascot for the Park, which will represent the values of both the Tibidabo and Unicef. This strengthens the partnership between Unicef and Tibidabo. Everyone is invited to take part of this competition and to present their own projects and also the competition will intend to mobilize design schools and recognised artists of Catalan culture. 

This year is the 10anniversary of Tibiclub, which allows families to enter to the Park as many times as the want in a year with a very affordable price, and this season new advantages will be presented to make Tibiclub even more attractive. Furthermore, working in an educational line, this July will begin Tibinet, an animation project which pretends to teach playfully the importance of recycling and to help families to incorporate recycling to their daily life.

New closing shows will also be inaugurated. The very first will be “Marabunta Kids: Party at Tibidabo”, a funny clown show in which improvisation and interaction with the public will be constant. After that, visitors will enjoy “Casting: an animal musical”, which will have the aim of pick up talented animals to be part of Noah’s Ark, “The Big Parade with Gerónimo Stilton”, Fantasy Planet, and the show “Illusions” by Pep Callao. There will be also two new 4D films projected at the Dididado: “The good, the bad and a horse” and the adaption of the classic adventure fiction “20.000 leagues under the sea”.

The Tibidabo Amusement Park closed the 2013 season with a total of 556.700 visitors, consolidating growth trend, with 7% more visitors than the previous year. Also increased, by 8%, the number of members of families Tibiclub to reach the 16,700 with which it closed last year.