--- title: "hoy no circula" translation: "The rule that keeps your car off the road one day a week." type: "word" category: "expression" url: "https://consalsa.app/words/hoy-no-circula" canonical: "https://consalsa.app/words/hoy-no-circula" published: "2026-10-12" updated: "2026-10-12" author: "Andrey the Nomad" site: "ConSalsa.App" license: "https://consalsa.app/terms#ip" --- # hoy no circula URL: https://consalsa.app/words/hoy-no-circula Translation: The rule that keeps your car off the road one day a week. Pronunciation: /oj no siɾˈku.la/ Category: expression Region: Mexico City and the 18 conurbated municipalities of the Valle de México Register: everyday, neutral, universally understood Variants: el hoy no circula, doble hoy no circula, hoy no circula sabatino Literal meaning: Today it does not circulate. The name is the rule stated flatly, which is unusual for a piece of bureaucracy and genuinely helpful. Published: 2026-10-12 Quick answer: - Hoy no circula keeps each car off the road one weekday, between 5:00 and 22:00, assigned by the last digit of the license plate. - The holograma sticker decides whether it applies: 00 and 0 are exempt on weekdays, 1 and 2 are not. There is no restriction on Sundays. - Out-of-state and foreign plates are treated more strictly: without a permit they also lose weekday mornings from 5:00 to 11:00 and every Saturday. The free Pase Turístico lifts all of it, except on a contingencia day. What it means: - One day a week, your car stays where it is - between five in the morning and ten at night. Which day depends on the last digit of the plate, and outside those hours you can drive on any day at all. - The system has three moving parts and they are worth keeping separate. The plate digit sets your weekday. The verificación is the emissions test you take twice a year. The holograma is the sticker you get for passing it, and that sticker is what decides whether the weekday rule applies to you at all. - It is not a suggestion. Enforcement is traffic police stopping the car rather than a camera and a letter, and the consequence is a fine of 20, 25 or 30 UMA plus remisión al corralón - the car is impounded, with towing and daily storage charged on top. That is why everybody who drives here knows their day the way they know their own phone number. How Mexicans use it: - As a plain fact of scheduling. Mañana no circulo is a complete explanation for arriving by metro, and nobody asks a follow-up question. - The digit-to-day mapping is common knowledge and people recite it without thinking: Monday is 5 and 6, Tuesday 7 and 8, Wednesday 3 and 4, Thursday 1 and 2, Friday 9 and 0. Saturdays work on a separate schedule tied to the holograma, and Sundays are free for everybody. - Contingencia is the word that changes a week. When one is declared the restriction widens at short notice, and it reaches the holograma 0 and 00 cars that are exempt on an ordinary day, and people find out from the radio at seven in the morning. - The workarounds are ordinary and openly discussed. A second car with a different digit, a raite from somebody whose day it is not, or simply the metro. Renting for the day is the expensive option and people do it anyway. - If you do not own a car, the day still reaches you. Your holograma is the colored sticker in the corner of the windshield, and it is the first thing to look at in a rental or a car you are borrowing. On a contingencia the metro fills, Uber and Didi surge, and every plan in the city moves half an hour later - which is the version of this rule most people in Roma or Condesa actually experience. Common mistake: - Assuming a foreign or out-of-state plate is exempt. The opposite is true - foráneas are treated more strictly. Without a permit a foránea loses its plate-digit weekday, every Saturday, and Monday to Friday between 5:00 and 11:00 on top. The fix is the Pase Turístico - free, obtained online, up to fourteen days per semester - which exempts the car from all of it. It stops working on a contingencia day. - Trusting the volatile details from a page like this one. The weekday mapping and the hours have been stable for decades and you can plan around them. The Saturday schedule, which hologramas are exempt, and what a given contingencia phase covers have all been revised more than once - check those with the city before you rely on them. Examples: - Mañana no circulo, me voy en metro. — My car's off the road tomorrow, I'm taking the metro. - ¿Qué día no circulas? — Which day is your car off the road? - Hay contingencia, mañana es doble hoy no circula. — There's a pollution alert, tomorrow the restriction doubles. - Ya me toca verificar, se me pasó el mes. — My emissions test is due, I let the month slip. Mini dialogue: A: ¿Me das un raite mañana? Mañana no circulo. B: Sí, claro. ¿En qué termina tu placa? A: En dos. Me toca jueves. B: Ah, entonces sí. La mía sí circula mañana. A: ¿Y ya verificaste? B: No me lo recuerdes. FAQ: Q: What is hoy no circula? A: The driving restriction in Mexico City and the surrounding metropolitan municipalities. Each car is off the road one weekday between 5:00 and 22:00, assigned by the last digit of its license plate. Q: What are the hours? A: 5:00 to 22:00. Outside those hours you can drive on any day, including your restricted one, and there is no restriction at all on Sundays. Q: Which day is my car off the road? A: By the last plate digit: Monday 5 and 6, Tuesday 7 and 8, Wednesday 3 and 4, Thursday 1 and 2, Friday 9 and 0. Whether it applies to you depends on your holograma. Q: What is a holograma? A: The colored sticker earned at the verificación. 00 is the newest and is exempt on weekdays and Saturdays; 0 is exempt too; 1 rests one weekday plus two Saturdays a month - odd last digits on the first and third, even on the second and fourth. 2 rests one weekday and every Saturday. Q: What happens if you get caught? A: Traffic police stop the car - it is not camera-enforced. The fine is 20, 25 or 30 UMA and the vehicle goes to the corralón, the impound lot, with towing and daily storage charged on top. Q: Does hoy no circula apply to foreign plates? A: Yes, and more strictly. An unpermitted foránea loses its weekday, every Saturday, and weekday mornings from 5:00 to 11:00. A Pase Turístico - free, online, up to fourteen days per semester - exempts it from the whole program, but it stops working during a contingencia ambiental. Q: Do rental cars circulate every day? A: Usually. Rentals in CDMX are almost always new enough to carry holograma 00 or 0, which exempts them on weekdays. Ask before you take the keys, because it is the whole question. Q: What is doble hoy no circula? A: What happens during a contingencia ambiental. The restriction widens, sometimes to normally exempt cars, and it is announced at short notice. Related words: raite, aventon, tinaco, franelero, mandame-la-ubicacion