Parking in Mérida is an uncontrolled disaster and getting worse by the week. Things are going to get interesting pretty soon. The population and number of vehicles is skyrocketing. Unbelievably for a city with so many rich residents street parking is subsidized by the general population. Not a parking meter in sight for the cosplaying wannabe narcos in their GMC Suburbans who leave their 2+ tonnes hunks of metal with abandon wherever they feel like it. Although there are so many layers of law enforcement – federal, state, municipal and tourist police very few seem to have any interest in enforcing even the most basic of traffic rules. Illegal parking is the least of their concerns coming a little behind checking FB posts

Of course the downtown core is the worst. The streets were never designed for parking and the lack of any coherent parking policy produces the current desmadre (frggin mess). Paseo Montejo was recently remodelled a few years ago and is a per

fect example of a half-@assed job. Yes, they put in bike lanes (very narrow) which is an improvement. However the parking situation is random squeezed in between bus stops and entrances to buildings. Not that many drivers care – it is a daily occurrence to see cars parked in bus stops. There is really no need for parking at all on Paseo Montejo. It removes a lane which could much more productively used as an exclusive bus lane. A bus with an average of 40 plus passengers should always have priority over a car with one occupant. Almost all the customers in the adjacent businesses arrive on foot or public transport. Any business that whines that it needs parking is not a real business – probably a tax dodge or money laundering. Besides why should the general public subsidize private parking?

I don’t expect the situation to improve anytime soon so all I can do enjoy the drama from the sidelines