The Government of Costa Rica presented a formal request that “urges” Uber and all other similar technological platforms that enable public transportation service in the country to “abandon its operation in the country until a revision or modernization of the existing legal frame that regulates the remunerated transportation of people is completed”. This was the response of the government to the...

So far in 2018, 293 people have died in Costa Rica because of road accidents, a number that concerns the transit authorities that have seen three months that have exceeded 40 deaths and August could be the fourth. The month of June registered the most deaths with 45; while the month of August through this past Monday, accounted for 37 deaths. According to transit authorities most of the acci...

The Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Rodolfo Méndez Mata, affirmed that this administration will continue working, as promised, in the elimination of several bottlenecks in the great metropolitan area; however, this means more traffic jams while the works are completed. At the end of July, the government announced the beginning of the works in the roundabout known as “Rotonda de las...

After 14 months users of the route that connects San Antonio de Belen, Heredia with Lindora, Santa Ana, San Jose, have one less traffic jam to worry about on this route as the bridge over the Virilla River was inaugurated today. The bridge went from having two lanes to four, and it’s the first step in the expansion of this route, commonly known as the “Radial Santa Ana -Belen” and through which...

The Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT) announced this Sunday evening the temporary closure of Route 32 which connects San Jose to Limon due to a mudslide in kilometer 30. According to the information shared, the road is completely closed and for now they do not have an estimated time on when it will reopen, “we will inform tomorrow of the hour it will reopen, once the road is cl...

The train's in Costa Rica are constantly involved in different accidents, during the first semester of 2018,  7 people died because of accidents with the train, 3 of them as a result of collisions and 4 that were ran over, in general, the country registers close to 100 mishaps involving the train every year. The causes of the accidents are many, some are due to lack of proper signs and infrastr...

It has been over seven months since the Electric Transportation Bill was approved by the Legislative Assembly in Costa Rica and six months since it went officially in effect , yet, car agencies in Costa Rica are still having problems getting the tax exemptions applied and the vehicles out of customs. Back in February, Aduanas (customs) informed them they had to wait for the official regulations...

As The Costa Rica Star reported last night, a tragic accident occurred on Route 27 in the area of Alto de Las Palomas (Santa Ana), involving three cars and a motorcycle;  two people were declared dead at the scene while a third person passed away in  hospital. The accident happened around 11:20 on Tuesday, July 24th,  when the driver of an Audi that was traveling from San Jose to Santa Ana lost...

*News in development* At approximately 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 24th a tragic accident occurred on Route 27 (San Jose-Santa Ana) in Alto de las Palomas close to the Villareal residential community. Preliminary reports indicate that two people lost their lives and two others were transferred to the hospital in critical condition. Three cars were apparently involved in the accident, one of ...

The Comptroller General of Costa Rica published its resolution in which it determines that the company Meco S.A. complies with all legal requirements to be awarded the construction of an underpass that will replace the roundabout known as “Rotonda de las Garantias Sociales”. The appeal had been presented by the company FCC Construction America S.A. back in February. This resolution allows th...

The National Roads Authority (CONAVI) resumed since the early hours of Sunday the cleaning work o the national routes that were affected by the strong rains of Friday and Saturday. The works done in Route 32 which connects Limon to San Jose, allowed the mobility of vehicles and trucks in the area of Zurqui which remained trapped. Many drivers that were rescued yesterday had to return for their ca...

Uber has been operating in Costa Rica for almost three years, and according to information published by national newspaper El Financiero (https://bit.ly/2JaTm4t), it currently has a total of 21,000 registered drivers and 800,000 users; this makes Costa Rica the country with more market penetration in Latin America and one of the most important markets in the world. Andres Echandi, General Mana...

Photo Credit: Guana/Noticias Leo Perron, a Canadian expat who lived in Tamarindo, Guanacaste, passed away in the early evening of Wednesday when, for reasons still undetermined, he crashed into a street light pole. The accident took place close to the entry to The Westin Conchal Resort, in the road that connects with the community of Brasilito. Perron was 58-years-old, lived in the area...

The Ministry of Public Works and Transportation and Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) which operates the escrow Route 1, announced that the first works for the route between La Sabana (San Jose) and San Ramon (Alajuela) will begin in the second semester of 2019. The announcement was made in a press conference at the Presidential House with the participation of President Carlos Alvarado, the Minister of...

On Monday, June 18, truckers will take some of the main roads such as Route 27 (Caldera-San Jose), the General Cañas highway (Alajuela-San Jose) and Route 32 (Limon-San Jose, to protest against a number of situations they consider affect their jobs. The slow moving protest convoy of trailer trucks will begin at 6 a.m. leaving from several points: one group from the Coyolar-Orotina toll booth t...

A bill analyzed by the Legislative Assembly proposes a change in the Transit Law to allow the Public Force (Fuerza Publica) to act as traffic cops when necessary and have the ability to extend tickets and fines for law violations. The bill received the support of 51 deputies. The project establishes the cooperation between both police forces and gives one year for the Ministry of Public Works a...

Once again, the bridge over the Virilla River on the road that connects Lindora, Santa Ana with San Antonio de Belen, Heredia will be closed at night time starting this Sunday May 20th through Thursday, May 24 from 10 p.m. through 5 a.m. This time, the closure is for the installation of the central part of the new bridge; in order to do this cranes will be working on both the existing bridge as...

Infrastructure is one of the biggest challenges Costa Rica has and one of the top priorities for the new government as established by President Carlos Alvarado; the new Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Rodolfo Mendez Mata, is aware of the difficulties ahead and willing to resign if he does not reach his goals. Mendez Mata took his position as new Minister of Public Works and Transpo...

One of Carlos Alvarado’s first actions as President of Costa Rica was signing an order along with the Minister of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT), Rodolfo Mendez Mata, to find a solution to 28 “bottlenecks” that cause the main traffic jams in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM). The President also indicated that the order also includes repairing 60 kilometers of roads located in the more...

The number of road accidents in Costa Rica this 2018 has decreased in comparison to the same period of 2017. In total between January and April 2017 a total of 179 people lost their lives, while for the same period of this year road accidents account for 148 deaths, in total 31 less. “We see that the decrease is important. We have the rainy season coming up, mid-term vacations, and the Romer...

This Saturday, May 5, the Minister of Public Works, German Valverde, and President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis, inaugurated the works done in the crossroad close to the Juan Santamaria Airport in Alajuela. According to Valverde, the changes made in this road will make the traffic in the area a lot more fluent, allowing drivers to save as much as 30 minutes to reach their destinations. ...

The night closures of the bridge over the Virilla River which connects Lindora in Santa Ana with Belen will continue through May 10. Although initially the closures were scheduled through May 3, the Ministry of Public Transportation (MOPT) informed that the labors of ensemble and welding in the new bridge will require the night closures to continue for a few more days. The bridge will remain...

As of the night of Wednesday, April 25 and every night through Thursday, May 3, the bridge over the Virilla River in Lindora, Santa Ana will be completely closed with the purpose of installing the auxiliary structure located to one of the sides and moving it to the opposite side. According to the information offered by the National Roads Authority (CONAVI) the structure that was put in place ba...

On the surface it sounds like a great idea, most modern cities have exclusive bike lanes, it’s a way of promoting a clean method of transportation and a healthy lifestyle... but is the city of San Jose really ready for this? Or is this plan going to cause more harm than good? Many Costa Ricans that go through San Jose on a regular basis seem to think this plan is, as Ticos say “applying perfume on...

As of this Thursday, April 5 at 10 p.m. the bridge over the Virilla River in Lindora, Santa Ana will be completely closed in order to install an auxiliary structure that will support the beams of a new frame for the bridge under construction. Transit will be closed from 10 p.m. through 5 a.m. for five nights starting on April 5, confirmed the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT). ...

According to the 2017 Annual Report of the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ), a total of 4,747 reports of stolen cars were filed last year, for an average of 13 cars a day; this represents a 10% increase from the total of 2016. Thieves prefer the brands Hyundai (492 reports) and Toyota (478), but other brands such as Suzuki,Nissan, Mitsubishi, Honda, Isuzu, Geo and Chevrolet, are also common...

The current traffic law in Costa Rica has been in effect since October 26th, 2012. The purpose of the regulation was to fix some big problems created by a former law approved in 2010, which contained outrageous fines and several evidentiary contradictions, which created a big mess affecting both administrative and court procedures. This does not mean the current law in effect is much better, so th...

The Expomovil 2018, Costa Rica’s main car expo will gather the main car and motorcycle agencies as well as accessory stores and other services in the automotive business. The fair, organized by the Association of Importers of Vehicles and Machinary (AIVEMA) will take place from March 8 through March 18 at the Pedregal Event Center in San Antonio de Belen, Heredia. Agencies will present their...

The Electric Transportation bill was approved by congress in Costa Rica back in December 2017; the bill is intended to promote the use of electric vehicles through the creation of tax exemptions of up to 100% depending on the cost of the car, these measures hope to bring down contamination levels and the use of fossil fuels replacing them for clean energies. Now, two months after the approval o...

The three bulletproof tactical vehicles donated by the United States to Costa Rica and that were received by the police bodies in Costa Rica at the end of January, did not pass technical revision, Riteve, due to three problems labeled as serious. According to the information provided by the Ministry of Public Security the problems were: Lack of reflective stickers (the cars are completely black...

The Ministry of Public Works and Transportations (MOPT) will begin this Monday, February 19 with the establishment of security devices in 91 train intersections located in the areas of Pavas -San José- Curridabat, Heredia-San José and San José-Cartago. Engineer German Valverde, Minister of Public Works, explained that they expect these devices will force drivers to be more respectful of the tra...

This Monday, February 12 the road work near the Juan Santamaria Airport will begin with the purpose of improving the flow of vehicles in this area. According to engineer German Valverde, Minister of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT), they will address two initial parts of the project , the construction of the loop that will connect the General Cañas highway to Route 3 (Rio Segundo) and ...

The Costa Rica Touring Car Championship (CTCC) is back this weekend and through six days it will offering the best of motor racing in Costa Rica. 15 pilots will be part of this third edition of the CTCC, known faces such as Juan Carlos Alvarado, Emilio “Milo” Valverde, Danny Formal (Current Champion), Erick Xirinachs, Bernal Valverde, Andre Solano, Andrés Montalto, among others. Also, a few ...

Back in December 15,2017 the Electric Transportation bill was approved by Costa Rica´s congress; this bill promotes the use of electric vehicles by making them more affordable by establishing several tax exemptions of even 100% depending on the cost of the car. The President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis, signed the law this week, making it official, Ïn a few years the transportation flee...

This Wednesday, January 31, the bridge over the Virilla River in the road that connects Santa Ana to Belen (Radial Santa Ana-Belen) will be closed from 3 a.m. through 7 a.m. A new bridge is being constructed here, and although so far the construction work has been done without the need to interrupt transit in the area, this time, however, they are required to close while they put in place a part ...

As The Costa Rica Star reported last year, Costa Rica averaged over 1 death daily in road accidents last year; by December 31st the number was of 457. This number has continued to go up year after year and has reached a rate of 9.16 per every 100,000 inhabitants; motorcyclists make up for almost 50% of those fatal accidents. In addition to the number of people that have lost their lives on the...

(Photo: Illustration Purposes Only) An African American man from the United States and his wife, a Costa Rican woman from Puerto Viejo, Limon were stopped today by the transit police because their “marchamo” (vehicle’s circulation permit, similar to the registration payment in the United States) was not visible. Apparently the marchamo was indeed paid and up to date but the sticker was place...

The traffic in Costa Rica is crazy, certainly promoting other means of transportation specially clean ones such as cycling sounds like a great idea, but the problem remains that the country’s current infrastructure doesn’t make this a simple possibility, cars, buses, taxis, motorbikes and the train already have enough problems sharing the streets as it is … yet, the San Jose Municipality will be c...

So far this year 446 people have lost their life as a result of road crashes in Costa Rica, this number was of 445 for the same period of 2016 and the year closed with 456 victims. Out of these deaths, 197 (44.2%) were motorcyclists, according to data by the Operations Department of the Transit Police. Data provided by the National Institute of Statistics confirms that road accidents are ...

A tragic accident occurred this Christmas day at around 1:15 p.m. in Route 27 (San Jose-Caldera) in the area of Turrucares; it was a head-on collision between a Land Rover Discovery and a motorcycle. Apparently the driver of the Discovery was making a U turn and the motorcycle was traveling at high speed, they encountered each other head to head and the impact was such that the Discovery overtu...