By Wendy Anders Business owners expressed concern at an announcement late today by the Costa Rican Transportation and Public Works Ministry (MOPT) that the main artery connecting San José with points westward including the main international airport in Alajuela would be closed for six weeks starting Saturday, January 21, 2017 in the direction of Alajuela-San José. The bridge, known as "La Pl...

Detroit, Jan. 9 — South Korean automobile manufacturer Kia announced on the weekend the official debut of its new Stinger sports sedan, to be revealed at the North American International Auto Show, which kicked off on Monday in Detroit. Kia said that it is planning to sell the Stinger, which is based on the same-named prototype that the firm presented at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, in the Un...

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to impose a "big border tax" on General Motors Co <GM.N> for making some of its Chevrolet Cruze compact cars in Mexico, an arrangement the largest U.S. automaker defended as part of its strategy to serve global customers, not sell them in the United States. Trump's comments marked his latest broadside aimed at an American company over job...

Mexico City, Jan. 3 — The Mexican government expressed disappointment following Tuesday's announcement by the Ford Motor Co. that it was abandoning plans for a $1.6 billion assembly plant in Mexico. Mexico will see to it that Ford reimburses the San Luis Potosi state government for any expenditures of public money made in furtherance of the project, the Economy Secretariat said in a statement. ...

By Wendy Anders According to Riteve, the company that carries out vehicle inspections in Costa Rica, there are about 125,000 vehicles that still haven’t passed inspection this year. Some of these are vehicles that failed inspection and need to undertake repairs in order to pass; and others simply haven’t bothered to make an appointment, said Riteve. "The main concern is that many of these...

Guatemala yesterday welcomed into its market the U.S. application found in more than 70 countries and 480 cities. Among those who joined in congratulating the arrival of Uber to Guatemala was the United States Commercial Service. An Uber driver in Bogota. Wikimedia Commons "This country has all the potential to receive Uber, and we are sure that Guatemalans will find the benefit of a new al...

Obnis App Costa Rica Private Transportation - Cab service Costa Rican company Obnis launched today their application, a competition of UBER. Obnis was created as an alternative in the private transportation sector, and in order to give clients a “Test drive” of their service they will be offering free trips for all new users for a limited time and with some restrictions. Over 4,000 users...

By Wendy Anders A family in Escazú forced into the street by a taxi parked on a sidewalk, photo published by the Accidentes en Costa Rica Facebook group. This Monday, a draft "Framework for Safe and Sustainable Mobility of People" was presented to the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly by Legislator Marcela Guerrero, as reported in elperiodicocr.com, a digital Spanish news source. The prop...

Reuters - Governments should invest at least 20 percent of their transport budgets in infrastructure that promotes walking and cycling, to save lives, curb pollution and cut climate-changing emissions from vehicles, the United Nations' environment agency said. Almost half of the 1.3 million people who die each year from traffic accidents are pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, the U.N. Env...

Fatal motorcycle accident in Costa Rica, from the Facebook "Accidentes en carretera" group. By Wendy Anders “We can not accept that our families are dying on our streets,” exhorted Elian Villegas, Costa Rica’s National Insurance Institute (INS) president, in a public video statement issued Friday. By the end of this year, his agency estimates that 379 people will have died due to road-re...

By Wendy Anders Quepos Plateau - Source: UC Santa Cruz A man from the United States who was apparently vacationing in the Quepos/Manuel Antonio area in Costa Rica’s Central Pacific region was rushed to the hospital in delicate condition this afternoon after the taxi he was traveling in spun out of control after ramming into a tractor, reported El Diario Extra, Costa Rica’s Spanish daily tab...

By Wendy Anders New cars arrive in Costa Rica, under the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. (CAFTA). If you were looking to purchase a spanking new 2018 car early next year, it looks like you will have to wait until September due to new regulations established by the Costa Rican Internal Revenue Service, as reported in El Diario Extra, Costa Rica’s daily tabloid. Fernando Rodriguez, vice...

By Wendy Anders Rescue of bus crash victims in Cinchona, Thursday, Oct. 20, courtesy of CRHoy.com. A group of retired university professors from the country’s National University (UNA) were en route to Guatuso in northern Costa Rica when their bus plunged off a cliff in Cinchona, north of Heredia, yesterday, reported local police. The bus was transporting 13 men and 18 women on a trip to...

By Wendy Anders Taxi drivers are making good on their promises to stage a protest tomorrow, Thursday, October 20, in downtown San José. Taxi unions stated that at 9:00 a.m. they would begin “marching” east up Paseo Colon from the La Sabana Park’s eastern edge, reported the Costa Rican mainstream daily La Nación. The drivers are planning to stop at the Department of Revenue on 2nd Avenue a...

By Wendy Anders Woman injured in train accident yesterday late afternoon near San José's La Sabana park is transferred in critical condition to the hospital. (Jorge Navarro for La Nación) This year’s 85 accidents involving vehicles and trains leave no doubt that basic safety infrastructure along the urban railway that bisects San José, Costa Rica’s congested city center is urgently needed. ...

By Wendy Anders Pixabay Commons Today cities and countries throughout the world will celebrate World Car Free Day. Costa Rica’s Transportation Minister Carlos Villalta, and Vice-minister Liza Castillo will be literally walking the talk today as they take trains, buses and bike to their meetings, said the Transportation Ministry in a press statement. In no place does the day seem so fi...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Gas prices have jumped in six states across the Southeast after a pipeline leak in Alabama forced a shutdown that created major fuel shortages. Colonial Pipeline Company System Map. Image courtesy of Colonial Pipeline States of emergency have been declared in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia with prices jumping as m...

BEIJING, Sept. 17 -- The FAW Group, a state-owned car manufacturer, will recall 22,817 Mazda cars due to defective dusk seal rings, according to China's top quality supervisor. The affected vehicles include 3,881 Mazda CX-7 cars manufactured between Jan. 6, 2013 and Aug. 13, 2014, and 18,936 Mazda 8 cars manufactured between April 19, 2010 and July 21, 2014, the General Administration of Qu...

Washington, Sept. 14 - Ride-sharing service Uber started offering customers rides in self-driving cars Wednesday in Pittsburgh, in the first pilot test of this technology in the U.S.  For now, just four self-driving Ford Fusions will be used to provide service in the western Pennsylvania city, marking the company's first real test of the groundbreaking technology. Rides will be free during t...

By Wendy Anders After a two-year investigation, Costa Rica's Judicial Investigative Agency (OIJ) had enough evidence yesterday to make arrests in San Antonio de Coronado, San José of at least 11 individuals connected with a supposed car theft ring. The group, which OIJ Director Walter Espinoza described in a live press statement today, was found by investigators to be dedicated to stealing p...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rica’s Ministry of Transportation and Public Works (MOPT, in Spanish) and the National Roadways Council (CONAVI) gave orders yesterday to begin the design and construction of an access road to the new Moín Container Terminal (TCM, in Spanish) at Costa Rica’s largest port in the Atlantic coast region of Limón. The four-lane Moín port access road of 2.1 kms in length must...

By Wendy Anders Official (red) taxi representatives cancelled a meeting last Tuesday that they had requested with the Public Services Regulatory Agency (Aresep) during the national taxi protest they held Tuesday,  August 9. When Roberto Jiménez Gómez, Costa Rica’s general regulator, called the cancellation “unfortunate,” Rubén Vargas, president of the Costa Rican Taxi Union (UTC) responded w...

By Wendy Anders The country’s Ombudsman’s Office (Defensoría de los Habitantes, in Spanish) felt the need to intervene in a troubling situation in which 12 ocelots have been killed on Costa Rica’s roads since January, pointing out that there are also human risks involved with wild animals crossing roads. Although the need for special passageways for wild animals to cross highways has been cl...

By Wendy Anders Pedestrian deaths are the second largest type of traffic-related deaths registered in Costa Rica this year, reported the Transportation Ministry today. Of the 42 pedestrian deaths reported so far this year, the ministry claims 37, or 88 percent, could have been prevented by people using pedestrian aerial bridges or crosswalks within close walking distance from where they deci...

By Wendy Anders At ten this morning, the country’s public service regulator, Roberto Jiménez, received taxi sector leaders as they demanded to be heard one more time on the issue of Uber’s legality in the country. Jiménez reiterated that his agency, the Aresep, has done everything in its power to regulate public transportation services, and that any further decisions are pending court decisi...

By Wendy Anders The bridge over the Virilla River along the main highway leading from San José to Alajuela’s international airport was partially closed last night from 10:00 until 5:00 this morning for repairs. All traffic from Alajuela to San José was completely closed during that time. Thursday night-Friday morning, all traffic from San José-Alajuela on the main highway’s Virilla bridge wi...

By Wendy Anders Publications on social media of a major protest by official taxi drivers throughout the country starting at 5:00am today have public authorities and local residents preparing for the worst. Many parents will keep children home from school, embassies are suggesting people schedule appointments on other days, and police are planning a major counter-operation. The official ta...

By Wendy Anders The Costa Rican-based business research media, CentralAmericaData.com released today 2015 data on Costa Rica’s vehicle fleet. Automobiles comprise the largest percentage of Costa Rica’s vehicular fleet, comprising 63 percent of the country’s 1.3 million vehicles in circulation, compared to 1.5 percent corresponding to buses, which in 2015 numbered about 20,000. Almost 20 p...

By Wendy Anders The country’s Hyundai dealer, GrupoQ, announced they will recall over 200 Hyundai Santa Fe vehicles (years 2016-2017) from the market, stated the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC) Friday. The country’s Consumer Support Office (Dirección de Apoyo al Consumidor, DAC) made consumers aware of the lack of passenger-seat airbags in 2016 and 2017 Santa Fe Hyundai mod...

Transporting vehicles is an essential part of worldwide logistics, and enables auto companies and individuals alike to get vehicles from point A to point B without putting thousands of miles of wear and tear on them. A-1 Auto Transport Inc. has been one of America’s most trusted suppliers of auto shipping for twenty years, and has recently increased their reach to go international. The latest t...

Wikimedia Commons CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (“CEMEX”) (NYSE: CX) announced earlier this month that its subsidiary, CEMEX Latam Holdings, S.A. ("CLH") (BVC: CLH), participated in the expansion and improvement of a section of the Inter-American Highway, the main road in the Costa Rican highway system. CLH supplied approximately 200,000 tons of high-strength cement for this highway’s expansion, a ...

By Wendy Anders Thursday night a 23-year-old woman from the United States was found dead inside her car after it crashed head-on into a pick-up truck near the Tarcoles River along the main Central Pacific highway, stated the Judicial Investigative Agency (OIJ) in a press statement this afternoon. The regional Garabito OIJ unit was called to the scene of the crash around 9:00 pm. Trave...

By Wendy Anders In June GrupoQ Corporation opened a state-of-the-art digital showroom for its new Hyundai models on the first floor of Alajuela’s City Mall, adjacent to the Juan Santamaría International Airport. This novel showroom, the first of its kind in Latin America, allows potential buyers to experience different car models on digital screens in addition to viewing the cars themselves,...

By Wendy Anders You may want to take a trip to the gas station today or tomorrow. An increase in gas prices recently approved by the Public Services Regulatory Agency (Aresep) will take effect later this week.  It more than doubles the decrease that went into effect this past March. In the past such hikes have caused long lines at stations as people stock up to save a little before prices go ...

By Wendy Anders While business owners, legislators, and government offices alike consider a host of measures to alleviate commute times and its stress on workers and families, the vehicles keep pouring in. Car imports for the first five months of the year are up 26 percent over last year’s same time-frame as reported today by CentralAmericaData.com. And car sales in March, as reported in ...

Wikimedia Commons Commuters stuck in traffic during Friday morning in the eastern districts of San Jose were surprised to see a naked man calmly walking down the street and occasionally attempting to direct the flow of traffic. The incident occurred in San Pedro, precisely at the traffic circle that surrounds the Hispanic Heritage Fountain. According to a television report broadcast by nati...

An Uber driver in Bogota. Wikimedia Commons San Juan, May 31 (EFE).- Traffic chaos prevailed in San Juan on Tuesday as taxi drivers and truckers protested the arrival in Puerto Rico of Uber, the private ride-hailing service, which links passengers and drivers via a mobile application. On Tuesday morning it was difficult to find taxis on the capital streets, while some tourist excursions had...

Source: OIJ On Monday afternoon, undercover agents from the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ) arrested a 50-year old man from Colombia after he broke into a car rented by German tourists visiting Costa Rica. The undercover OIJ agents were from the regional office assigned to Jaco Beach and nearby Playa Hermosa. It was at the latter coastal town that they decided to c...

Source: City of Key West Miami, May 27 (EFE).- Investigations by authorities in Key West at the southern tip of Florida have succeeded in locating the owner of a car similar to the one used by the Flintstone family in the famous animated television series. The vehicle was about to be towed away because it was parked on a street where no parking was allowed "The owner has been located! Th...

SJO on April 27 The second day of the Mother of All Strikes (MOAS) in Costa Rica caused headaches for passengers at the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO), which serves the Greater San Jose Metropolitan Area (Spanish initials: GAM). Access to SJO via the main highway that connects the airport with San Jose was blocked by MOAS protestors who marched in the vicinity of the San Rafael...