Take a close look at that minibus in the picture above; if you know where to find it in Barcelona, it will take you directly to Gaudi’s Park Guell, one of the city’s most popular sites.
But if you don’t know where to find it, you may be out of luck, because the Barcelona City Council has just taken it off the map. Off the map, but not off the road. Responding to neighborhood complaints that locals are being crowded off the bus, it’s been ordered off Google Maps and Apple Maps.
The small-sized bus is used because the route in the La Salut neighborhood includes a number of very small streets and tight corners. The limited capacity has meant that elderly people especially have had difficulty with constant overcrowding.
“Before, the bus was so full even people with walking sticks couldn’t get on,” one resident told Spanish news site elDiario.es, while another told the Guardian (UK) that “We laughed at the idea at first, but we’re amazed that the measure has been so effective.”
A city deputy mayor told the Guardian that “we needed to eliminate references to the 116 on the internet,” but wouldn’t say what action had been taken. Google told the Guardian that routes are removed only on request from officials. TravelGumbo has confirmed that the route has also disappeared from the transit map app of TMB, the Barcelona city transit agency.
