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Another Challenge Of The Vehicular Restrictions of San José

The vehicular restrictions of San José if facing yet another Constitutional court challenge, this time by Carolina Morales, a 29 year old lawyer, who says that her liberty of transit is being hampered and wants the Constitutional court to restore her rights.

Morales says she has been fined on several occasions for driving during the restriction, saying she was not aware of the restriction of the day and that only the Legislative Assembly can made such a determination.

The area of San José bounded by the Circunvalación to the west, south and east and the Tibás and La Uruca to the north, restricts all vehicular traffic between 6am and 7pm, Monday to Friday, based on the last digit of the license plate.

Vehicles with plates ending in 1 & 2 are restricted on Mondays; 3 & 4 on Tuesdays; 5 & 6 on Wednesdays; 7 & 8 on Thursdays; and, 9 & 0 on Fridays.

The restrictions to do not apply to motorcycles, taxis, buses and emergency vehicles and on weekday holidays.

It is expected that the court will uphold the restriction as it did when a similar appeal was filed within days of the restrictions going into effect last July 10.

The vehicular restrictions of San José had been limited to the downtown core and only during morning and afternoon weekday rush hours. The restricted area was expanded to the include the Circunvalación in June and the hours expanded in July.

The original proposal was for a 24 hour restriction of San José, however, Transportes officials changed the regulations the day before going into effect, restricting vehicles only for 13 hours daily.