[ad_1]
Starting in April, Bogotá would have a new model to pay for not having a pick and a badge. Currently, through the solidarity Peak and Plate mechanism, a driver can pay to have no peak and license plate for six months.
But, if everything turns out well, since April, a driver, if he wanted to, it could pay to avoid having a peak and plate for a week or a month: that is, shorter terms and at a lower cost.
In an interview with EL TIEMPO, the Secretary of Mobility, Nicolás Estupiñán, expanded on this scoop that he had already advanced to this newspaper in 2020.
(You may be interested in: The changes that come for the peak and plate in Bogotá in 2021)
How is the progress of the modifications to the peak and plate?
It is going well. We are supporting ourselves with an international firm. Before we had a fixed charge every six months, the idea is to lower it to shorter periods to be able to charge per trip, per kilometers. We are not there yet.
But Yes, we have been adjusting the process to charge per week or per month to the extent that people want to do so.
We are adjusting to not have a fixed charge. A Renault 4 driver cannot pay the same to a person with a late-model Mercedes. It can’t be the same because your ability to pay is different and because we want to improve air quality, newer cars have better fuel efficiency and other technology.
Suppose you are the Mercedes and I the Renault 4, who would pay more?
The Mercedes pays more, because the appraisal of the vehicle weighs more.
This is a transition from peak and plate to congestion and pollution charges. This second phase, where we are reducing the size of the period, we will implement it in April and at the end of the year we will deliver these additional elements to include the characteristics of the vehicle and see if we can already include the characteristics of the trip.
What exactly would happen in April?
In April we began to reduce the possibility of paying by six per single rate to pay per week and per month and the possibility of adding the appraisal of the vehicle.
Later, at the end of the year, (what we will do) is add the additional attributes: the number of kilometers you travel and the area you go to.
It is not the same if you travel 2 miles to 15, and it is not the same if you travel those miles in a low congestion area to a very congested area.
How would it be? Did I spend that week shooting at any hour?
Exactly. And always having the exception of the use of shared mobility.
If I bring two more passengers in April, don’t I have a pick and license plate?
It has no peak and plate. And you don’t have to pay.
(Review: How does the use of the shared car work to avoid having a pick and plate?)
Wouldn’t that trigger the use of the used car? If they are going to charge me less for an old car …
What we are betting on is that households that bought two or three cars to evade the pick and plate, sell these cars and buy these permits.
For me to pay that week, that month of that quota to be able to shoot without pick and plate, is it going to be simple or very cumbersome? Can I do it online or how will it work?
You simply go to the Secretariat page, you have to comply with a series of elements and that seems to us to be fine and that is why we want to create this awareness. The first thing that you will find as soon as you enter the Pico and Placa Solidario page is a video that cannot be skipped, if you do, the page will be closed.
In this video we explain what are the negative externalities that you generate with your car. When you turn it on, it pollutes, congests more and is more likely to have serious accidents. After this short video, about five minutes long, you already have the possibility of paying pos PSE and this money goes directly online to the Ministry of Finance to strengthen our public transport system.
(What’s more: This is how you can pay to avoid having a pick and plate in Bogotá)
How do you make sure they don’t score a goal? Can the Police randomly take any car and apply the detector to see if it paid or not? Is this going to work in a simple way or is it going to complicate the life of the Police?
Both the Police and the cameras have real-time access to a database, because the cameras could detect not only speeding but, for example, a doctor who is going to work in his car in rush hour, but they are exempt.
Then they are exempt, both those who paid, such as doctors or those who are in shared mobility. Then there is a database that the cameras and the Police have so that the automatic crossing is made, they realize that they are exempt and nothing happens.
ERNESTO CORTÉS
CHIEF EDITOR OF THE TIME
