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The Department of Transportation, MOPT, in its efforts to lower the use of fuels, will be enforcing a new restriction of motor vehicles next week inside the outer belt expressway. Vehicles will not be permitted inside the outer belt as follows:
· License plates ending in 1 and 2 cannot enter on Monday
· License plates ending in 3 and 4 cannot enter on Tuesday
· License plates ending in 5 and 6 cannot enter on Wednesday
· License plates ending in 7 and 8 cannot enter on Thursday
· License plates ending in 9 and 0 cannot enter on Friday.
Currently, the restriction is enforced from 6:00 am to 8:30 am and 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm. Next week it will be enforced 24 hours per day. Authorities have reported a 22% decrease in the number of cars in San Jose during peak hours and this new 24-hour restriction should improve the traffic situation even more.
Must confess that the traffic in San Jose this week has been great! The new ‘intelligent’ traffic lights help too…
On Thursday I had to pick someone up at Clinica Biblica, I drove from Santa Ana into San Jose, parked the car opposite Clinica Biblica and returned him in exactly 47 minutes – Bloody amazing!
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comTrue that traffic has improved, but how do you take your kids to school and how do the school buses travel to pick up the kids and deliver them from the different locations to their schools? Is there an exception made for school buses/vans? Last Friday I saw a bunch of school vans demonstrating in front of the Ministry of Education in SJ and I think it must have had something to do with this…Of course, this only affects family with school age children that need to be bused in to and from these restricted areas, but I’m sure these families would like to see this resolved.
Unfortunately my office is in San Jose. The side streets are normally snarled at rush hour and the buses play leap frog and pratically block any available lane. The traffic volume has appeared to have decreased. But the restrictions also make it even more difficult to do business in San Jose. Costa Rica will likely pay a price for this restriction in terms of decreased productivity. It may be more beneficial for businesses to move out of San Jose long term. What problems will that bring to San Jose?
I would have rather seen a true traffic plan with proper routes, traffic lights that are actually sychronized, and can we get rid of the notion/requirement that you can’t move your cars following an accident?
Also, is such a restriction really necessary? Gas is already going way up. Shouldn’t that rapid cost increase change people’s behaviours without creating the need to legislate a change? I feel sorry for those people living in San Jose with their cars. Will they get a reduction in their marchamo?
As with most government interference, it usually creates more problems than it solves.
Yes! The requirement that cars can NOT be moved an inch after an accident is infuriating.
I could understand if this was a requirement in the event of a fatality but, slowing down all traffic which costs the economy millions of dollars in lost production over a few hours for the sake of a broken tail light that might costs $20 to replace seems somewhat shortsighted.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comI gathered since the other day driving back from Heredia there was a slight fender bender on a small bridge leading to La Uruca leaving only one lane on a two way bridge so I was incredibly grateful that the drivers on the oncoming traffic were giving our side a chance to pass every once in a while or I’d still be waiting there…lol…
If I know Ticos, in a little while and after a lot of frustration, I can see some of them ‘finding’ alternate license plates for their cars to avoid this mess 🙂
Well, I’m sure they will eventually get it right because people ARE complaining ~ it’s the meantime that can be messy…
I’m expecting that soon there will be rash of license plate thefts as people adapt to the new legislation. You may need to use rivets to keep your license plate on your vehicle.
I’ve had my vehicle emblem stolen a number of times. I recently saw someone address that problem by riveting their emblems onto the car. What else can you do but adapt to the situations presented in Costa Rica.
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