The Last Digit Decides: Pico y Placa on Bogota's Streets — Epoche B1
1. The measure In Bogota and several other Latin American cities, the last digit of a car's number plate decides whether the car may be driven during peak hours that day. The scheme is called pico y placa — "peak and plate" — and Bogota has used it since the late 1990s. 2. The problem A city of millions inherited a street network built for a much smaller fleet. Widening the roads was slow, expensive and, in the old centre, impossible. Congestion and dirty air arrived faster than concrete could. 3. How it operates Restricted digits are published and rotated, so the same drivers are not always the ones left at home. The restriction covers the morning and evening peaks, not the whole day. Exemptions exist for emergency vehicles and, in Bogota, for drivers who pay a charge to be released from the rule. Police and cameras enforce it, and the fine is heavy enough to be felt. 4. The effects nobody ordered Households answered the rule with arithmetic. Some bought a second, cheap and usually older car with a different last digit, so that one plate was always legal. Studies of Mexico City's similar programme found no clear improvement in air quality and signs that the fleet grew and aged instead. Research covering Latin American cities suggests that long-lasting restrictions tend to raise car ownership, while short and unexpected ones give households no time to adapt. 5. Assessment The evidence should be read with care, and it cuts both ways: results depend on how permanent the rule is, how many exemptions are sold, and whether the buses are worth taking. 6. Conclusion Traffic is not only a question of asphalt; it answers to rules. But so do the people the rules are written for, and they answer faster. References Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá. Decretos distritales establishing and amending the "Pico y Placa" vehicle restriction (from 1998 onwards). Bogota. Davis, L. W. (2008). The Effect of Driving Restrictions on Air Quality in Mexico City. Journal of Political Economy, 116(1), 38–81. Gallego, F., Montero, J.-P. & Salas, C. (2013). The effect of transport policies on car use: Evidence from Latin American cities. Journal of Public Economics, 107, 47–62.