Santo Domingo Traffic may get a little better

Garyexpat

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Sep 7, 2012
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News from today:
2 million motorcycles but only 300,000 motorcyclists have licenses
The executive director of the National Transport and Transit Institute (Intrant), engineer Franchesca de los Santos says that while there are an estimated two million motorcycles in circulation, only 300,000 motorcyclists have licenses to drive these. She said her office is giving the motorcycle issue priority as motorcyclists are involved in 60% of the traffic deaths in the country.

She explained that hundreds of thousands of motorcycles were assembled from spare parts, and are circulating without adequate documentation. Many others are in the hands of undocumented foreigners. She said her office is working with the Tax Agency (DGII) to find ways to regulate the motorcycles assembled from imported parts. But she said the situation is more difficult in the case of the undocumented foreigners and their legalization to drive the motorcycles.

She says since August 2017 they have three mobile licensing units and operations are being carried out to encourage the motorcyclists to regularize their situation.

De los Santos also announced that nine main avenues will soon be off limits for fare-sharing cars (conchos). These include J. F. Kennedy, 27 de Febrero, Máximo Gómez, Sabana Larga and Isabel Aguiar that De los Santos says should only be served by larger collective transport units such as buses.


I thought they should have enacted this on Maximo Gomez when the Metro started service. Once (if ever) the second line across the Ozama is finally open they should do the same on the portion of San Vicente de Paul up to the last station near Mega Centro.
Maybe I'll hate driving a little less when visiting the capitol.
 

caribmike

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Jul 9, 2009
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"De los Santos also announced that nine main avenues will soon be off limits for fare-sharing cars (conchos). These include J. F. Kennedy, 27 de Febrero, Máximo Gómez, Sabana Larga and Isabel Aguiar that De los Santos says should only be served by larger collective transport units such as buses."

Wow, finally. Hopefully this wil work out. I see problems ahead with the "padres de familias" mafia though...
 

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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De los Santos also announced that nine main avenues will soon be off limits for fare-sharing cars (conchos). These include J. F. Kennedy, 27 de Febrero, Máximo Gómez, Sabana Larga and Isabel Aguiar that De los Santos says should only be served by larger collective transport units such as buses.
If they can pull this off, I'll tip my hat.
 

Garyexpat

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Sep 7, 2012
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"De los Santos also announced that nine main avenues will soon be off limits for fare-sharing cars (conchos). These include J. F. Kennedy, 27 de Febrero, Máximo Gómez, Sabana Larga and Isabel Aguiar that De los Santos says should only be served by larger collective transport units such as buses."

Wow, finally. Hopefully this wil work out. I see problems ahead with the "padres de familias" mafia though...

Yea Mike, I am sure the sindicos will look for trouble. If I were Danilo I would put out the military and any violence/fires give orders to shoot first ask question......or not. Well, maybe not quite that extreme but you can not play with those thugs.
 

irishpaddy

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Sep 3, 2013
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When I was in Santo Domingo at Christmas I thought there was a big improvement with the traffic ...especially on the Malecon.
 

Mauricio

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Nov 18, 2002
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That’s not good news, that’s bad news....more guaguas taking the place of the carros. 
 

Mauricio

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When I was in Santo Domingo at Christmas I thought there was a big improvement with the traffic ...especially on the Malecon.



This Christmas traffic was much better than other years. But I think that has more to do with people finally learning to do their things a little bit more on time, supermarkets open until midnight and I haven’t seen as many people traveling to USA during holiday season as this year. 
 

JasonD

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Feb 10, 2018
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The main problem in the DR with traffic isn't the vehicles, the licenses or lack thereof or the guaguas, instead; it is the lack of courtesy and education of Dominicans among themselves and towards others.


Taking crros away from main roads won't solve it, until the above is addressed.

"Chivos sin Ley" motto apply here.
 

Garyexpat

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Sep 7, 2012
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I won't disagree that courtesy in driving isn't a problem but yes traffic volume is the main problem. Leaving the capital the last week I sat on JFK in traffic where it was like a parking lot. Courtesy or lack thereof didn't play a role. Getting rid of the Conchos will at least contribute to the solution (granted to a limited extent) in both traffic and lack of courtesy because they often times are the least courteous drivers on the road.
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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Mr AE’s brother was talking about how much worse the traffic is in SD since last May when we left.  Saturday heading into SD from airport we moved fairly well, but the traffic leaving SD to Este was a parking lot on 27 Febrero. 

The motoconchos are awful everywhere, mindless of anyone else. To me they are the worst  on Independencia 
 

josh2203

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Dec 5, 2013
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I won't disagree that courtesy in driving isn't a problem but yes traffic volume is the main problem. Leaving the capital the last week I sat on JFK in traffic where it was like a parking lot. Courtesy or lack thereof didn't play a role. Getting rid of the Conchos will at least contribute to the solution (granted to a limited extent) in both traffic and lack of courtesy because they often times are the least courteous drivers on the road.

I've driven the whole Maximo Gomez (and Hermanas Mirabal) from north of Villa Mella up until George Washington (Malecon) at the worst peak hours and at 6 in the morning... With lack of the carritos at out-of-the peak hours, the difference is huge. I've spent on the same route close to 3 hours on peak hours and less than 20 minutes outside of peak hours... While there may be always people on the roads (guaguas, carritos, whatever) who cannot drive (or can, but don't care), if there are less of them, the traffic moves more quickly...
 

JD Jones

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Jan 7, 2016
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If they can pull this off, I'll tip my hat.

They won't, and it wouldn't change much anyway. There's just too many cars in Santo Domingo.

The conchos are aggravating, but they pretty much keep to the right lane with their starting and stopping all the time.

They need to prohibit the "voladora" buses on those main thoroughfares too; those guys are aggravating as heck.
 

jahjahwarrior

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Mar 14, 2017
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In Santiago at estrella sadhala in front of bravo, is always bad. They push 6 lanes of traffic into 3 coming from autopista and the right line is always stopped for Concho, so it's 6 lanes going into 2.

There is always always always an Amet, with his motorcycle parked in the right lane, just 20 feet in front of where the conchos stop, right in front of the sign that says "no pasajeros!"

So effectively the Amet is blocking a lane when he could park on the sidewalk, and he's protecting the conchos who are breaking the traffic law and causing a huge part of the congestion.

And don't drive there if you are overstaying a visa, he likes to pull over gringos[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

I too hate Santo domingo traffic and I too want a motorcycle...but a real one, a 1,000 cc sport bike, not a 150cc bucket of parts without lights.

They could solve the traffic problems overnight if they impounded and crushed every moto, Concho, guagua and camión that was overloaded and missing either all headlights or all brake lights.
 

JasonD

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Feb 10, 2018
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I've driven the whole Maximo Gomez (and Hermanas Mirabal) from north of Villa Mella up until George Washington (Malecon) at the worst peak hours and at 6 in the morning... With lack of the carritos at out-of-the peak hours, the difference is huge. I've spent on the same route close to 3 hours on peak hours and less than 20 minutes outside of peak hours... While there may be always people on the roads (guaguas, carritos, whatever) who cannot drive (or can, but don't care), if there are less of them, the traffic moves more quickly...

There isn't' a country with more vehicles moving at any time and busier than the USA. We manage to get to point A, B and C w/o the hassle rate at which occurs in the DR. Yes, the amount of vehicle is certainly cumbersome and something to address but, the main issue is the lack of understanding, courtesy and bad behavior of the drivers, passengers and people overall.

A well educated populace reaches goals at steadfast paces, the DR isn't' anywhere close to this with an illiterately percent rate climbing as we speak and with the addition of Haitians, Venezuelans and other immigrants things are just going backwards education wide.
 

JD Jones

Moderator:North Coast,Santo Domingo,SW Coast,Covid
Jan 7, 2016
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In Santiago at estrella sadhala in front of bravo, is always bad. They push 6 lanes of traffic into 3 coming from autopista and the right line is always stopped for Concho, so it's 6 lanes going into 2.

There is always always always an Amet, with his motorcycle parked in the right lane, just 20 feet in front of where the conchos stop, right in front of the sign that says "no pasajeros!"

So effectively the Amet is blocking a lane when he could park on the sidewalk, and he's protecting the conchos who are breaking the traffic law and causing a huge part of the congestion.

And don't drive there if you are overstaying a visa, he likes to pull over gringos[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

I too hate Santo domingo traffic and I too want a motorcycle...but a real one, a 1,000 cc sport bike, not a 150cc bucket of parts without lights.

They could solve the traffic problems overnight if they impounded and crushed every moto, Concho, guagua and camión that was overloaded and missing either all headlights or all brake lights.

One can dream, right?
 

JasonD

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Feb 10, 2018
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In Santiago at estrella sadhala in front of bravo, is always bad. They push 6 lanes of traffic into 3 coming from autopista and the right line is always stopped for Concho, so it's 6 lanes going into 2.
.

This is exactly the problem, not caring for laws, others and just for themselves.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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traffic volume is the main problem. Leaving the capital the last week I sat on JFK in traffic where it was like a parking lot.
They should institute pico y placa. Exception given to taxis, and registered transport vehicles such as Uber/Taxify, rent car etc.

Pico y placa works well even in smaller Colombian cities such as Pereira, Armenia, etc.

That would instantly take about half of personal vehicles off the roads.

Capitaleños would learn to use public transport more, it could even provide initiative to new ventures and startups, be that both for new transport companies offering decent airconditioned buses where you travel not like in a sardine can (the bank branch manager would not travel in a guagua with a plastic wrap instead of the window with 5 people seated on 3 seats) and new apps/projects like ride share in private vehicles etc.

And for the the rest of us non-capitaleños, we would simply plan a visit to SD on an appropriate day... or go in bus and take Uber (which would become instantly cheaper proposition even for multiple errands than today because of reduced traffic, thus the time factor of the rate would become cheaper).
 
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JD Jones

Moderator:North Coast,Santo Domingo,SW Coast,Covid
Jan 7, 2016
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They should institute pico y placa. Exception given to taxis, and registered transport vehicles such as Uber/Taxify, rent car etc.

Pico y placa works well even in smaller Colombian cities such as Pereira, Armenia, etc.

That would instantly take about half of personal vehicles off the roads.

Capitaleños would learn to use public transport more, it could even provide initiative to new ventures and startups, be that both for new transport companies offering decent airconditioned buses where you travel not like in a sardine can (the bank branch manager would not travel in a guagua with a plastic wrap instead of the window with 5 people seated on 3 seats) and new apps/projects like ride share in private vehicles etc.

And for the the rest of us non-capitaleños, we would simply plan a visit to SD on an appropriate day... or go in bus and take Uber (which would become instantly cheaper proposition even for multiple errands than today because of reduced traffic, thus the time factor of the rate would become cheaper).

Already tried that years ago. Same thing as the green/yellow painted roof vehicles. Some guys have roofs with both colors. That didn't work either.
 

Garyexpat

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Sep 7, 2012
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They should institute pico y placa. Exception given to taxis, and registered transport vehicles such as Uber/Taxify, rent car etc.

Pico y placa works well even in smaller Colombian cities such as Pereira, Armenia, etc.

That would instantly take about half of personal vehicles off the roads.

Capitaleños would learn to use public transport more, it could even provide initiative to new ventures and startups, be that both for new transport companies offering decent airconditioned buses where you travel not like in a sardine can (the bank branch manager would not travel in a guagua with a plastic wrap instead of the window with 5 people seated on 3 seats) and new apps/projects like ride share in private vehicles etc.

And for the the rest of us non-capitaleños, we would simply plan a visit to SD on an appropriate day... or go in bus and take Uber (which would become instantly cheaper proposition even for multiple errands than today because of reduced traffic, thus the time factor of the rate would become cheaper).

I was recently in Santa Marta Colombia where they also have that in effect. If you are caught on the road on an off day you not only pay a stiff fine but they also impound your car so you have to pay tow and impound as well. Not many people test it resulting in more passable roads.