Parking in Mexico City is a mix of street parking controlled by franeleros or parking space holders, but in some areas meters have been introduced. According to a survey by IBM, Mexico City had North America's worst parking and tied for 10th worst in the world, to IBM's survey, with 73 per cent of drivers in Mexico City having had to abandon their search for parking at some point during the previous 12 months. [1]
Street parking in urban neighborhoods is mostly controlled by the franeleros (from franela, the red rag they wave to gain the attention of drivers), a.k.a. "viene vienes" (lit. "come on, come on"), who ask drivers for a fee to park; in the Condesa neighborhood in 2012, 20 to 40 pesos (USD 1.52 to 3.04). [2] The requested fee can be as high as 200 to 300 pesos (USD 10.38 to 15.57), for example during sports events in the area surrounding the Plaza México bullring (the world's largest) and the Estadio Azul soccer stadium. [3]
The fee is in theory a tip to guard the car, but is in fact extortion, [4] since there is the implicit threat that the franelero will damage the car if the fee is not paid. Double parking is common (with franeleros moving the cars as required), impeding on the available lanes for traffic to pass.
As of October 2013, there are almost daily reports about franeleros, whether about local authorities trying to expel them, or franeleros refusing to leave such areas, or franeleros breaking parking meters. [5]
In order to mitigate that and other problems and to raise revenue, [6] [7] 721 parking meters (as of October 2013), in Spanish parquimetros, have been installed in the west-central neighborhoods Lomas de Chapultepec, Condesa, Roma, Cuauhtémoc, Juárez (including the Zona Rosa), Polanco and Anzures, in operation from 8 AM to 8 PM on weekdays and charging a rate of 2 pesos (USD 0.1) per 15 minutes, with offenders' cars booted, costing about 500 pesos (USD 26) to remove. 30% of the 16 million peso (USD 830582) per month (as of October 2013) parking meter income from the system (named "ecoParq") is earmarked for neighborhood improvements. The granting of the license for all zones exclusively to a new company without experience in operating parking meters, Operadora de Estacionamientos Bicentenario, has generated controversy. [8]
As of November 2013 there are plans to expand metered parking to Álvaro Obregón borough (colonias Guadalupe Inn, Florida, Crédito Constructor, Axotla and Agrícola) and Coyoacán borough (colonias Del Carmen, Barrio de Santa Catarina, Villa Coyoacán, Barrio de La Purísima Concepción and Barrio San Lucas), as well as colonias Escandón and San Miguel Chapultepec. [9]
As of October 2013, the same west-central neighborhoods are plagued by rogue valet parking services in front of hundreds of restaurants, bars and shops. Laws are being proposed to control valet parking services and require them to belong to a registered entity (razón social), present their rates, and the location where the car will be parked. It would require valets to own or rent spaces for the cars off street. [10]
Mexico City is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. It is one of the country's 32 federal entities. Mexico City is one of the most important cultural and financial centers in the world. It is located in the Valley of Mexico in the high central plateau, at an altitude of 2,240 meters (7,350 ft). The city has 16 boroughs or demarcaciones territoriales, which are in turn divided into neighborhoods or colonias.
Coyoacán is a borough in Mexico City. The former village is now the borough's "historic center". The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means "place of coyotes", when the Aztecs named a pre-Hispanic village on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco dominated by the Tepanec people. Against Aztec domination, these people welcomed Hernán Cortés and the Spanish, who used the area as a headquarters during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and made it the first capital of New Spain between 1521 and 1523.
Benito Juárez, is a borough in the Mexico City. It is a largely residential area, located to the south of historic center of Mexico City, although there are pressures for areas to convert to commercial use. It was named after Benito Juárez, president in the 19th century.
Cuauhtémoc, named after the former Aztec leader, is a borough of Mexico City. It contains the oldest parts of the entity, extending over what was the entire urban core in the 1920s.
Miguel Hidalgo is a borough in the Mexico City. It was created in 1970 when central Mexico City was divided into four boroughs. Miguel Hidalgo joined the historic areas of Tacuba, Chapultepec and Tacubaya along with a number of notable neighborhoods such as Polanco and Lomas de Chapultepec. With landmarks such as Chapultepec Park and the Museo Nacional de Antropología, it is the second most visited borough in Mexico City after Cuauhtémoc where the historic center of Mexico City is located. Tacubaya and Tacuba both have long histories as independent settlements and were designated as “Barrios Mágicos” by the city for tourism purposes.
Chapultepec is a station on the Mexico City Metro. It is located in the Cuauhtémoc borough in the center of Mexico City. In 2019, the station had an average ridership of 57,873 passengers per day, making it the 14th busiest station in the network.
Viveros / Derechos Humanos is a metro station along Line 3 of the Mexico City Metro. It is located between the Álvaro Obregón and Coyoacán boroughs of Mexico City.
The Parque México, officially Parque San Martín, is a large urban park located in Colonia Hipódromo in the Condesa area of Mexico City. It is recognized by its Art Deco architecture and decor as well as being one of the larger green areas in the city. In 1927, when the surrounding neighborhood of Colonia Hipódromo was being built, the park was developed on the former site of the horse race track of the Jockey Club de México. Today, Parque México is not only the center of Colonia Hipódromo, it is also the cultural center of the entire La Condesa section of the city.
Colonia Roma, also called La Roma or simply, Roma, is a district located in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City just west of the city's historic center, and in fact is no longer a single colonia (neighbourhood) but now two officially defined ones, Roma Norte and Roma Sur, divided by Coahuila street.
Lomas de Chapultepec is a colonia, or officially recognized neighborhood, located in the Miguel Hidalgo borough of Mexico City. It dates back to the 1920s, when it was founded with the name Chapultepec Heights. Home to some of the biggest mansions in the city and many high-net-worth individuals, it has gained a reputation of exclusivity. Its main entrance is through Paseo de la Reforma.
Colonia del Valle is a neighborhood in the Benito Juarez borough of Mexico City. It includes "...a great number of parks, vast and tree-lined streets, prestigious shopping malls, and some city landmarks...".
Polanco is a neighborhood in the Miguel Hidalgo borough of Mexico City. Polanco is an upscale colonia, noted for its luxury shopping along Presidente Masaryk Avenue, the most expensive street in Mexico, as well as for the numerous prominent cultural institutions located within the neighborhood, such as the Museo Soumaya and the Colección Jumex. Polanco is often called the "Beverly Hills of Mexico", having one of the country's densest concentrations of luxury shopping, with the most upscale restaurants, high-net-worth individuals, upscale hotels, and diplomatic missions and embassies. It is one of the most expensive real estate markets in Latin America.
Franeleros are people who have as main activity guarding or keeping an eye on cars parked in several streets in certain places in large Mexican cities, getting a tip as a reward, which sometimes is established by them. The term comes from the Spanish word franela, meaning flannel, which is a small piece of soft light fabric which they use to wash the cars if they are asked to, or to simply wave it around to give parking indications. Franeleros are sometimes also known as cuida-coches or "viene vienes", which is the phrase they commonly say while giving the parking indications. In 2007, due to the criticisms around this controversial "occupation" this guarding activity became illegal in Mexico City, but it is still widely practiced. In areas where parking meters have been installed, franeleros no longer operate.
Condesa or La Condesa is an area in the Cuauhtémoc Borough of Mexico City, south of Zona Rosa and 4 to 5 km west of the Zócalo, the city's main square. It is immediately west of Colonia Roma, together with which it is designated as a "Barrio Mágico Turístico". Together they are often referred to as Condesa–Roma, one of the most architecturally significant and bastion of the creative communities of the city.
Colonia Cuauhtémoc is a colonia in the Cuauhtémoc municipality of central Mexico City. It is located just north of Paseo de la Reforma, west of the historic center of Mexico City.
Ecobici is the bicycle sharing system launched in February 2010 by the government of Mexico City. Initially launched with 85 docking stations and 1,000 distinctive red and white liveried bicycles, the network then expanded by September 2013 to be at 276 stations with 4,000 bicycles, and as of April 2015, now has 444 stations with 6,000 bicycles.
Bosques de las Lomas is a colonia, or officially recognised neighbourhood, located in western Mexico City. It falls partly in Cuajimalpa borough and partly in Miguel Hidalgo borough. It was the masterpiece of Carleton F. Boyle, who previously was the CEO of Lock Joint Company. His good friend Don Carlos Trouyet owned the land & C.F. Boyle created the development which was the first borough in Latin America to have all the telephone & electrical lines run underground. The bridge in Bosques de las Lomas was the first of its kind in Latin America when C.F. Boyle hired French engineers to create it, and to this day Mexican Military Units use it for training exercises. The church design was chosen in a contest by C.F. Boyle by the architect Juan Cortina Del Valle, which has a vanguard design of a pyramid with a prominent stained glass window by the Hungarian-French artist Victor Vasarely.
This article covers the history of the Colonia Roma neighborhood of Mexico City.
Colonia Verónica Anzures is a colonia of Mexico City located in the Miguel Hidalgo borough. The neighborhood is a residential area but it also houses some office buildings, most importantly the Torre Ejecutiva Pemex.
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