Like gasoline, cigarettes and tortillas, travel on the nation’s pay highways just got more expensive.Toll increases averaging 3.1 percent were scheduled to take effect Tuesday, the Communications and Transport Secretariat (SCT) announced Monday.
But two of the most traveled routes out of Mexico City were spared any increase.
Motorist traveling from the capital to Cuernavaca or back will continue to pay 85 pesos (US$7.75) for the trip. The Mexico-Toluca highway will also cost the same as in 2006.
Two toll stretches on the Baja Peninsula popular with tourists were also favored. Tolls on the San José del Cabo-Aeropuerto Los Cabos highway won’t go up, and along the Tijuana-Ensenada pay road only the toll booth at Ensenada itself will charge about 3 percent more than last year.
Mexico’s federal toll highways are regulated by the government agency Capufe, an acronym for Federal Highways and Bridges. Many are concessioned to a special government entity called the Support Trust for Rescue of Commissioned Highways, or FARAC. Others are managed by private companies or the individual states.
Tolls for the 43 highways and three bridges concessioned to FARAC went up by 2.8 percent on average. One of them, however, is the Autopista del Sol that runs from Cuernavaca to Acapulco, which will continue to discount tolls along the badly damaged sections currently under repair.
Along the three non-FARAC Capufe highways and 29 bridges, tolls went up on average 3.5 percent.
With the notable exception of the Mexico-Toluca highway, the federal toll roads concessioned to private interests (29 highways and nine bridges) experienced hikes ranging from 3 percent to 4 percent have gone into effect, These include the highways running from Mexico City to Pachuca in the state of Hidalgo, from Guadalajara to Colima, from Atlacomulco in the State of Mexico to Maravatío in Michoacán, from Tulancingo in Hidalgo to Venta Grande in Puebla, and from Cardel to the port of Veracruz, both in the state of Veracruz.
In general, the new tolls in all three types of highway concessions amount to one or several pesos at each toll booth. On the Mexico-Puebla highway, for example, motorist will now pay 88 pesos at the San Marcos booth instead of 85. On the Mexico-Pacheco toll road, the Ojo de Agua booth will charge 33 pesos, up from 32.
On the other hand, the Tepozotlán booth along the Mexico-Querétaro highway now charges 65 pesos instead of 60.
At all booths, trucks and other vehicles larger than cars pay higher tolls. Non-toll (“libre”) roads roughly parallel toll highways as an alternative.
