Love me like Hoy No Circula loves Saturdays. Be just as faithful
I could say that it is something I heard the other day on a terrace but let’s be serious, professional and not lie to our audience.
Despite the small joke, we can say that the phrase has some truth to it. And it is that week after week the Saturday Hoy No Circula comes back to us. Like a partner who is at a distance, we hear from him or her on a daily basis in order to meet up with our loved one again at the weekend.
And the Hoy No Circula is a program created by the Secretariat of the Environment of CDMX (SEDEMA) which is applied every day with the aim of reducing polluting emissions floating in the atmosphere.
But on Saturdays, this program has some peculiarities that are worth going into detail. Although, if there is one thing we have to be clear about, it is that these restrictions apply in the 16 municipalities in Mexico City and in the following metropolitan municipalities of the State of Mexico:
- Atizapan de Zaragoza
- Coacalco de Berriozabal
- Cuautitlan
- Cuautitlan Izcalli
- Chalco
- Chicoloapan
- Chimalhuacan
- Ecatepec de Morelos
- Huixquilucan
- Ixtapaluca
- Peace
- Naucalpan de Juarez
- Nezahualcoyotl
- Nicolas Romero
- Tecámac
- Tlalnepantla de Baz
- Tultitlan
- Chalco Valley
Which cars and license plates are affected by the Saturday Hoy No Circula?
Having clarified this point, what kind of restrictions apply when Hoy No Circula is launched? What do we have to do to comply and not be fined?
The mechanism is simple. Every day of the week, some cars must stay at home. In the image above you have all the details of when your car must stop and rest. On those days it is better to give it a break. These are restrictions that are active between 05:00 and 22:00 hours
But the restrictions are different on Saturdays. These days are special because some cars can circulate freely and without problems. Others, however, must stop every Saturday of the year. Finally, a third category includes cars that will rest on alternate Saturdays. One yes and one no.
Now that we have understood the basic theory, let’s break down which cars have to stay at home this Saturday, August 31, 2024.
First of all, we must pay attention to the hologram on our car. If it has a hologram of 0 or 00, we will not have to stay at home. If we want, we can move freely without any restrictions. On the contrary, vehicles with a hologram of two will have to do the opposite every Saturday. In this case, hologram two means having restricted circulation on Saturdays.
It is the cars with hologram 1 that have to pay attention. In this case, it will be the final number of their license plate that dictates the verdict. If the number is odd, they will have to rest on odd Saturdays of the month. If the number is even, they will have to do the same on even Saturdays. In this case, since we are facing the fifth Saturday of the month of August, (August 31, 2024) and, therefore, cars with hologram 1 and license plates ending in an odd number will have to stay at home.
In addition to all of the above, there are some exceptions that we should not lose sight of and that allow circulation in some cases that must be taken into account. The following vehicles, therefore, can circulate every Saturday, regardless of their hologram or license plate number:
- Those with hologram 0 and 00
- Those that run on electricity, natural gas or are hybrids
- Those who have a disabled license plate
- All those dedicated to urban transport services (including funeral services)
- Those who offer school or passenger transportation
- Those intended for public safety and/or civil protection
In case of non-compliance with these restrictions, the fine will be 20 to 30 times the Unit of Measurement and Update (UMA), which is equivalent to 1,924.40 pesos and up to 2,886.60 pesos.
Image | Dan Gold
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