In 2024, work on adapting areas for parcel collection at the 43 BSM car parks will commence, continuing throughout the year, thus progressing their transformation into mobility service centres
In addition to these areas, which will be open to the public 24 hours a day, the number of delivery stations to be used by distribution operators when making deliveries to the end customer, either on foot or using sustainable vehicles, will be doubled
In this way, BSM is building on the Click & Collect pilot tests and the distribution stations already introduced in limited spaces in some of its car parks, and is helping to reduce the amount of traffic and polluting emissions arising from the urban distribution of goods
Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (BSM) has begun the process of equipping the entire network of BSM car parks with Click & Collect spaces where people can both pick up and return parcels 24 hours a day. A total of 43 car parks will be adapted to accommodate this service. The project will allow the consolidation and expansion of the Click & Collect pilot tests conducted with different logistics operators at 33 car parks. To date, these tests have been carried out in limited spaces, but the new adaptation project will allow consolidation and expansion, providing more space for the collection and return of parcels.
These advances fall within the “Special Urban Plan for New Activities in the Car Parks of the City of Barcelona” approved by the City Council, which allows the incorporation of logistics services into the city’s short stay car parks with the aim of improving and optimising the management of urban goods distribution in Barcelona.
In addition to providing all BSM car parks with a parcel collection area for public use over the course of 2024, steps will also be taken to double the current number of distribution stations or CDUM units in the BSM car parks network. The plan is to have about 20 micro-distribution centres from where distribution operators can deliver goods to the surrounding neighbourhoods, either using sustainable vehicles or on foot.
For First Deputy Mayor and BSM Chair, Laia Bonet, “Initiatives like these highlight the role of car parks in the city of Barcelona. By concentrating part of the urban goods distribution here, we are contributing to a reduction in traffic on public highways, and greater efficiency and sustainability in parcel delivery. Thanks to this strategy, delivery vans cover fewer kilometres because by making a single stop, they can deliver multiple packages to lockers or micro-distribution points. This means fewer journeys, and a reduction in both pollutant emissions and noise levels on public highways. It also makes delivery during off-peak hours and at night easier because as it takes place in a car park, there are no issues with noise”.
Two key elements to make urban goods distribution more sustainable
The incorporation of Click & Collect spaces across the BSM car park network will be carried out in phases. In all cases, a designated area, properly signposted, will be set up where the lockers for different operators will be located. These parcel collection points will be open to the public 24 hours a day for the collection or return of orders, as is already the case with the Click & Collect points currently being tested in some BSM car parks. Essentially, their purpose is to provide the city with a sustainable alternative to home delivery of online purchases.
Regarding the distribution stations or CDUM units, spaces will also be adapted and signposted in the car parks where they are located. These function as micro-distribution platforms where logistics operators’ vans can unload packages, usually at night, and distribute them to the final consumer using smaller more sustainable vehicles, or on foot. Thanks to these spaces, which are already being tested in eight BSM car parks, the impact on the occupation of public space by urban goods distribution is reduced, as are the amount of traffic and pollutant emissions.
A new parking model that responds to the new needs of today
Expanding Click & Collect spaces and micro-distribution points is a further step in the transformation process in which the BSM car park network is immersed, working towards making them mobility service centres. This new parking concept goes far beyond vehicle parking, integrating value-added services that respond to new habits and social needs, such as online shopping, electric mobility, and shared mobility.
Currently, the new BSM Ciutadella del Coneixement Car Park is being built, located on the site bounded by Wellington, Villena, Ramon Trias Fargas streets and Icaria Avenue, and will be operational from the second quarter of 2025.
With 7,000 m2 of surface area and a total budget of 10.7 million euros, it will be the first to be conceived as a true mobility hub, thanks both to the range of services it will offer, and its architecture and image. At the level of construction, this new conceptualisation involves a much more open definition of space, with flexible-use areas and higher ceilings that allow the entry of all types of vehicles.
