Hoy No Circula

I agree with Navigator except for "Mexico is a desert"

My aunt lived in Mexico City and I spent a summer in the 50's with her and I for one loved the city and its history.
Mexico city was built on a lake, soil is still soft, buildings still sink or shift there.

Mexico City is situated in the tropical zone and lies at an altitude of 7,240 feet (2,230 m) above sea level. This high altitude largely determines the climate of Mexico City. The city experiences hot summers and mild winters with an annual average temperature of 64°F (18°C). It has very small seasonal changes. January is the coldest month and May is the warmest month while rainfall occurs mainly between June and October.

There is a lot to do in the city, one of the most interesting places is the antropology museum on Reforma in the Parque de Chapultepec, you need at least two days to see it all, and you can actually visit the remains of the original city, Tenoxtitlan, the ruins are located on the side of the cathedral on the main squake El Zocalo, the National Palace has interesting murals, if you have the oportunity to see the balet folclorico in the palace of Bellas Artes, before the show the front curtain is actually a stained glass window and they depict a sunset and night fall with lights in the valley with the volcanos as a back drop, then this enormous window lifts and the show starts, it is worth seeing it.

There is also the castle of Chapultepec and many more places, also some very good restaurants, you can also take a tour and lunch aboard a "Chinampa" on the canals of Xochimilco, just remember that the city is at high altitude 7360 feet above sea level, in the outskirts you will also find the piramids in Teotihuacan, for all of this bring good walking shoes and remember that it will be chilly in the morning and hot during the day and then it chills back down in the afternoon, Mexico is a desert what saves the city is the altitude, also remember to use a hat and do use sun screen, you can get a nasty sun burn in a few minutes a lot faster than at sea level.

navegator

Thanks Navegator,

Motorcycles have a few advantages in Mexico - Cuota tolls are usually half what a passenger car pays and gated parking lots... free! I initially thought about skirting around CDMX but I'm hearing some convincing arguments for checking it out.

Motorcycles of less than 250 CC are not permited to go on the periferico in the center lanes they have to go on the lateral, all motorcycles are excempt from the hoy no circula and above 250 CC are allowed to circulate on all highways and expressways, no restrictions on them.

For motorvehicles with license plates ending in numbers

Monday _____ 5 & 6
Tuesday ____ 7 & 8
Wednesday _ 3 & 4
Thursday ___ 1 & 2
Friday _____ 9 & 0 and all license plates ending with letters
Saturday ___ letters
Sunday ___ no restrictions

Forget color decals, holograms and O and OO, they do not apply to vehicles that are not registered in Mexico's Federal District or the State of Mexico.

navegator

It is a bigger disaster than what it is reported, at the beginning a lot of persons bought old cars not just one but some times two with a plate ending in a different number from either the DF on the Estado de Mexico or neighboring states, this only added to the smog and congestion and did not relieve the problem, latter they started the smog check and this became ramant corruption on the part of the smog checking stations.

There was an instance where one of the TV stations purchased a brand new vehicle, and immediately took it to be smoged or "verificado", the vehicle of course did not pass, they wanted a mordida for it to pass known as a "brinquito", this led to an investigation and some of the stations to be closed, today not much has changed the verificacion still asks for a brinquito if they see that you are naive enough to tolerate this.

In reality it is very simple to understand for Canadian and USA plated vehicles, depending on the last number of the license plate is the day of the week that the vehicle does not circulate plus Saturdays, all license plates ending with a letter they do not circulate on Friday and Saturday and the hours that foreign plated bvehicles are forbiden to circulate, in the days that you can are from 05:00 AM to 11:00 AM.

Forget about the color decals and the "O" and "OO" decals, those only apply to vehicles that are registered in the Federal District and the Estado de Mexico, no foreign registered vehicle can apply for this.

I have in previous post given the numbers and days that correspond to the hoy no circula for foreign plated vehicles.

navegator

Just a comment. Hoy No Circulo is a disaster. Started in 1989, the result is that most people have two cars so they can move around on the days they are not supposed to. They want to implement this system here in Monterrey. Hopefully, I won't be living here by then. With so many regulations and exceptions, it leaves the door open for corruption.

Complicated. Hoy vey! :D

That is the beauty of obtaining official documents in Spanish and machine translating, or for that matter a lot of the miss information that is available on the internet and posting it here as "facts".

My neese's husband and his brother ride a motorcycle every day, the only motorcycles that are not permited on the expressways are the very small cylinder capacity, same as in the USA or Europe, a moped or a small Vespa can not keep up with high speed trafic, although the way traffic is in Mexico City, even walking is faster during rush hour.

As of today large cylinder motorcycles are excempt from the hoy no circula and are alawed on the exprassways, to clarrify the miss understanding only MOTORVEHICLES registered in the Federal District and the State of Mexico can have the decals with the color decal and days when they are not supposed to circulate, and only those that are new and meet the smog criteria and are registered in the Federal District and the State of Mexico may have the "O" and "OO" decals that permit them to circulate at any time.

The government wanted to include the motorcycles in the hoy no circula but there was a big push from the public for not doing this since many who need to travell from the out skirts where there is little or no public transport and can NOT afford a motorvehicle made it clear that the Distrito Federal government extended the Metro outside the Federal District or improved the mass transport.

Pitza Hut franchises use motorcycles for the delivery, otherwise the pitza would arrive several hours late, specially at rush hour, many other home deliveries are made by motorcycle, farmacies, supermarkets even Walmart delivers this way.

The "paisano" and tourist pass is only given out during two weeks in December and January for Cristmass and New Year.

navegator

Wikipedia says: " Motorcycles are currently exempt. However, those traveling by motorcycle through the metropolitan area should keep in mind that traffic laws (unrelated to hoy no circula) prohibit motorcycles to travel on expressways and therefore they must use side roads, streets, avenues, etc." .....

And this: "As of April 5, 2016, the availability of this touristic pass is suspended until July 30, 2016." and this " During part of early December to early January, Mexico City and Mexico State participate in a special program with the federal government called the Programa Paisano. One part of this program permits, without any special pass, for foreign-plated vehicles regardless of model year (those with plates from other than states in Mexico) to pass freely through the metropolitan area without regard to the Hoy No Circula program."

There is a lot of ambiguity written into this law which worries me as transitos can interpret or misinterpret many ways - most to my detriment. Although in one sentence motorcycles are exempt, I can't ride on highways? As my plate ends with a letter it looks like Friday is the safest day to assume I can't ride.

Motorcycles are exempt from the hoy no circula rule, only automobiles have that requirement,

The pase turistico is only issued for the Cristmas hollydays.

navegator