Driving in Mexico City: Programa Hoy No Circula

Mexico City, Mexico · Number-plate driving ban

What applies

Mexico City does not charge you to drive in; on your day it does not let you drive at all. The programme covers the whole of the city and applies whatever the origin of the plate, foreign plates included.

Which days you lose depends on the holograma from Mexico's vehicle emissions test — 00, 0 and EXENTO cars, electric cars and category I and II hybrids are exempt, and a car with no Mexican verification at all is in the strictest group. A free Pase Turístico Metropolitano lifts the limits for a foreign or out-of-state car for 14 days once every half-year, or seven days twice.

Source: Secretaría del Medio Ambiente de la Ciudad de México, read 2026-09-08
Full citation

Secretaría del Medio Ambiente de la Ciudad de México (SEDEMA)

Daily charge

There is nothing to pay. Hoy No Circula is a ban on driving on the days that fall to your plate, not a toll — no payment makes you legal on your day, and no payment is needed on any other.

When it operates

05:00 to 22:00 on the weekday that falls to your plate's last digit: 5 or 6 Monday, 7 or 8 Tuesday, 3 or 4 Wednesday, 1 or 2 Thursday, 9 or 0 Friday. A holograma 1 car also loses two Saturdays a month; a holograma 2 car loses every Saturday.

A car registered abroad, or in a state without a verification agreement and carrying no holograma, loses its weekday and every Saturday from 05:00 to 22:00, and on top of that every weekday from 05:00 to 11:00. The decree provides for the programme to be suspended on public holidays by notice from the environment authority.

Source: Jefatura de Gobierno del Distrito Federal, read 2026-09-08
Full citation

Jefatura de Gobierno del Distrito Federal — Gaceta Oficial No. 1882, 19 June 2014 (decree published by SEDEMA)

Area covered

The whole territory of the Ciudad de México — all 16 alcaldías, roughly 1,500 km², 60 km north to south. There is no inner cordon to avoid: if you are in the city on your day, you are in the scheme. This record does not cover the neighbouring Estado de México, which runs its own programme that we have not yet sourced.

Source: Secretaría del Medio Ambiente de la Ciudad de México, read 2026-09-08
Full citation

Secretaría del Medio Ambiente de la Ciudad de México (SEDEMA)

Why there is no map here
The decree governs the whole territory of the city, so a zone outline here would be the city outline and nothing more. Warning at city level is the exact answer for this scheme rather than a fallback for a map we could not obtain: there is no edge inside Mexico City to route around.

The authority's own map: Gobierno de la Ciudad de México — Portal de Datos Abiertos (alcaldía limits…

Petrol standard

There is no Euro or EPA threshold to meet. The programme keys off the holograma a car is given by Mexico's own emissions verification — EXENTO, 00, 0, 1 or 2 — and a car that has never been verified in Mexico has no holograma at all, which is exactly what puts foreign plates in the strictest group rather than the cleanest.

Diesel standard

Not applicable: see the note on the petrol standard. The holograma, not the fuel, decides.

Penalty if you do not comply

The decree of 19 June 2014 sets no amount of its own: it refers the fine to the Reglamento de Tránsito Metropolitano and the vehicle-verification regulations, and provides for an offending vehicle to be taken to a pound until the fine is paid. We have not sourced the current figure and do not estimate it.

How to comply
  • If the car is hired in Mexico, ask which holograma it carries. A 00 or a 0 is exempt from the weekday and Saturday limits; a 1 or a 2 is not.
  • If the car is foreign-plated, or plated in a state without a verification agreement, apply for a Pase Turístico Metropolitano before you travel. It is free, it is applied for online at paseturistico.cdmx.gob.mx with the vehicle's registration document, and it exempts the car from the programme's limits.
  • You can have one 14-day pass per half-year, or two seven-day passes; a Pase Turístico Paisano runs alongside the federal Programa Paisano for cars entering on a temporary import permit.
  • The pass is only issued to private petrol or gas cars less than 15 years old — model year 2011 or later as the city states it — and cannot be issued at all for plates from Mexico City, the Estado de México, Hidalgo, Morelos, Puebla, Querétaro or Tlaxcala.
  • A Pase Turístico is not valid on a day when an air-quality contingencia is declared. On those days the restriction is set by a separate announcement and is wider than usual, so check before you set off rather than relying on the pass.
Source: Secretaría del Medio Ambiente de la Ciudad de México, read 2026-09-08
Full citation

Secretaría del Medio Ambiente de la Ciudad de México (SEDEMA)

Sources

Next scheduled re-check: 2026-12-07.