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Barcelona has the highest per capita rate of motorcycle registrations in Europe and surrounding Catalunya is home to many influential people in the industry, up to world champion Marc Márquez. If there's anywhere you'd expect motorcycles to be accepted and celebrated, it would be Barcelona, right?
Well, not universally, it seems.
The Association for the Promotion of Public Transportation, backed by the local transportation authorities and other government agencies, launched a publicity campaign to encourage the use of buses and trains. A series of posters, which will appear on the sides of buses, among other places (see photo above), touts the benefits: less congestion, reduced pollution, less stress. It's the one appearance of motorcycles that ticked off the Spanish website Solomoto and drew a complaining tweet from former MotoGP commentator Dennis Noyes (an American who lived in Spain and works mostly in the Spanish language).
Basically, riding a motorcycle was depicted as a good way to get hurt, instead of getting to work.
By comparison, riding a bicycle was depicted in positive terms, not as unsafe.
Clearly, a little bad PR doesn't compare to other things around the world we've reported on, such as bans or planned bans on older motorcycles in places such as Paris, Genoa or Singapore, or the ban on male passengers in Bogotá.
On the other hand, if motorcycles can be given a bad image in Barcelona, they can be given a bad image anywhere.
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