New Regulations For
Public Transport On The
Way
To avoid more tourist
injuries and deaths from
traffic accidents, the
Ministerio de Obras
Públicas y Transportes (MOPT)
announced new
regulations to obtain
permits for "transporte
especial" - vehicles
dedicated to the tourism
industry.
Viviana Martín, vice-ministe
of Transportes, said the
document is now before
the Consejo de
Transporte Público (CTP)
- public transport
council - who will be
reviewing the document
and approve it within a
month.
"It concerns us that
during traffic spot
checks we have found
minibuses without
permits or with
falsified documents",
said Martín.
The vice-minister
explained that the new
regulations includes
that the vehicles are
not older than a set
limit (the limit is
still under discussion)
and to avoid that one
area has more tourism
vehicles than in others.
Currently, any public
vehicle licensed to
carry tourists must
include the words "turismo"
on the outside of the
vehicle marked in black
lettering with a yellow
background. License
plates of registered
public vehicles begin
the letters "SJB" for
San José; "AB' for
Alajuela; "CB" for
Cartago; "LB" for Limón;
"HB" for Heredira; "PB"
for Puntarenas; and,
"GB" for Guanacaste.
The new regulations also
aim to put an end to "pirateria"
(piracy), those
privately registered
vehicles used for public
purposes.
Currently, minivans
carrying 12 or less
passengers, are not
required to be
registered as a public
vehicle and can be used
for private
transportation and no
special license
required. Hotels,
resorts and
tourist attractions, for
example, use the private
vehicle to carry
tourists to and from
their destinations.
The reason for the
change stems from
several accidents during
the past several months
where the lives of
tourists have been
placed in danger, like
the accident of last
Thursday when a vehicle
carrying 26 Spanish
tourists flipped over
in Hojancha, Guanacaste.
On July 12, a minibus
carrying a number of
tourists got stuck in a
ditch in Palmares.
Fortunately only one
person was injured. On
June 16, a minbus
carrying four American
tourists landed on the
roof of a house when it
could not negotiate a
curve in el bajo Los
Rodríguez in San Ramón.
The minibus was on its
way to La Fortuna de San
Carlos.
Many other similar
accidents have been
recorded, all according
to vice-minister Martín,
could be avoided under
the new regulations. |
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