Mexico City has the second-busiest metro system in the Americas, a bike-share that costs 588 pesos a year, and a set of driving restrictions that make a foreign-plated car close to unusable. You do not need a car here. Bringing one is usually a mistake.
The Metro
Twelve lines, 195 stations, roughly four to four and a half million passengers on a weekday. The fare is 5 pesos and the head of government confirmed in December 2025 that it stays there through 2026 — the true cost per trip is about 13 pesos and the difference is subsidized. Payment is by the rechargeable Movilidad Integrada card, which also works on Metrobús, Trolebús, Cablebús, RTP and the Tren Ligero.
Two parts of the record are commonly stale, and both matter if you are choosing where to live:
Line 12 is fully operational and has been since 30 January 2024. The overpass collapse between Olivos and Tezonco on 3 May 2021 killed 26 people and injured about 80. The line closed entirely, reopened underground in January 2023, partially elevated that July, and completely in January 2024. The Mixcoac–Observatorio extension is still under construction with no confirmed opening.
Line 1 reopened in full to Observatorio on 16 November 2025 after a multi-year rebuild — new rolling stock, new signaling, rebuilt stations. Guides written in 2023 and 2024 telling you Line 1 is closed or truncated are wrong.
The honest weak point is reliability. Through 2026 the Mexican press has reported recurring simultaneous delays across multiple lines — 3, 8, 9 and B appear repeatedly — with waits of ten to twenty minutes and severe crowding at peak. It is cheap, extensive, and unreliable in a way that makes it unsuitable for a hard nine a.m. meeting.
Women-only cars operate on every line: the front one or two cars are reserved for women and children under twelve during service hours, with barriers and police enforcement at major stations at peak. The same applies to the front section of Metrobús and to RTP. This is enforced, not advisory. Harassment on public transport is a genuine and well-documented problem, which is why the system exists.
Everything else that runs on rails, wires or dedicated lanes
| Mode | Fare | What it is good for |
|---|---|---|
| Metrobús — seven BRT lines on dedicated median lanes | 6 MXN (Line 4 to the airport, 30) | Generally faster and far more predictable than the Metro. Line 1 runs the length of Insurgentes; Line 7 uses double-deckers along Reforma. |
| Cablebús — three aerial lines | 7 MXN | Lines 1 and 2 are serious commuter infrastructure for the hillside periphery. Line 3, open since September 2024, cuts a 45-minute trip across Chapultepec to 21 minutes and is the best cheap view in the city. |
| Ecobici — about 700 stations, 63,000 trips a day | 588 MXN a year | 45-minute trips, 27 MXN for minutes 45–60. Reliable, well maintained, and arguably the best value in urban transport anywhere. |
| Trolebús — nine surface lines plus the elevated Eje 8 Sur busway | 4 MXN surface, 7 elevated | A real time-saver for the southeast. |
| Tren Ligero | 3 MXN | Tasqueña south toward Xochimilco. |
El Insurgente is the biggest correction in this section. After eleven years of construction the final Santa Fe–Observatorio segment opened on 2 February 2026, completing the 57.7 km line from Zinacantepec in Toluca to western Mexico City. Seven stations, five-car electric sets, 160 km/h. Any guide saying the line stops in Santa Fe or may open eventually is out of date. Ridership was famously poor in the isolated Toluca-only phase; with the Observatorio connection to Metro Line 1 it is a functional commuter link and it opens Toluca and the Nevado as easy day trips. Confirm the current fare and timetable before relying on it.
Ride-hailing, and the safety practice that actually matters
Uber, DiDi and Cabify all operate legally and are the default for most residents after dark. DiDi is consistently cheapest, Uber has the deepest supply, Cabify is smaller and business-oriented. An UberX runs roughly 7 pesos base plus 3.57 per kilometer and 1.80 per minute with a 35-peso minimum, so a ten-kilometer trip is 120–180 off-peak and 1.3 to 1.8 times that in rush hour.
Always ride-hail rather than hailing a street taxi. Verify the plate and driver, share the trip, sit in the back, and know where the in-app emergency button is. Street taxis libres are best avoided by newcomers; sitio taxis called from a stand are acceptable.
At the airport there is an arbitrage worth knowing: an official airport taxi to a central neighborhood runs 275–620 pesos while an UberX is around 190 and a DiDi 115–146 for the same trip. That gap is why the airport periodically runs enforcement operations against ride-hail pickups, and why you may have to walk to a designated zone with your luggage.
Walking and cycling
About 535 kilometers of bike lanes, with bike commuting up 71% between 2018 and 2024 and specialists arguing another 500 km are needed. Reforma, Insurgentes, Patriotismo and Ámsterdam are genuinely rideable. Much of the rest is not.
Walkability is excellent inside Roma, Condesa, Juárez, Coyoacán centro, San Ángel, Santa María la Ribera and Del Valle. It is poor in Polanco — long blocks and hostile crossings — and Lomas, and Santa Fe was built for cars and is essentially unwalkable.
Hoy No Circula, and why a foreign-plated car is a trap
Hoy No Circula bans vehicles from circulating between 05:00 and 22:00 one weekday a week by last plate digit — Monday 5 and 6, Tuesday 7 and 8, Wednesday 3 and 4, Thursday 1 and 2, Friday 9 and 0 — plus one or more Saturdays a month. How badly you are hit depends on your verificación hologram, earned by passing an emissions test every six months. Holograms 00 and 0 circulate freely on weekdays; hologram 1 is restricted one weekday plus alternating Saturdays; hologram 2 one weekday plus every Saturday.
Here is the part that catches foreigners. A vehicle on foreign plates is treated as foráneo: restricted every Saturday, restricted on its plate-digit weekday, and additionally barred from 05:00 to 11:00 on every other weekday. The only relief is the free Pase Turístico, capped at fourteen days per semester per vehicle — as fourteen days once or seven days twice — requiring the car to be no more than fifteen model years old, and losing validity automatically the moment an environmental contingency is declared.
The out-of-state workaround, verificación voluntaria at a Megalópolis center, is designed for Mexican plates from other states. Whether and how a US- or Canadian-plated vehicle can obtain a Mexican hologram is not clearly documented, and anyone planning to drive one here permanently should check with SEMOVI directly rather than trusting a forum. Fines run 20 to 30 UMA — roughly 2,346–3,519 pesos in 2026 — plus towing.
The practical conclusion: if you want a car here, buy a Mexican-plated one, preferably new enough for hologram 00 or 0. Otherwise do not bring one. And plan for April and May, when a contingencia ambiental triggers Doble Hoy No Circula and even hologram 0 and 00 vehicles lose their exemption.
Airports
AICM (Benito Juárez) handled about 44.5 million passengers in 2025 and remains congested, with operations capped at around 43 flights an hour. Terminal 1 is old, crowded and tired; Terminal 2 is newer and strained; the two are connected only by an airside train for connecting passengers or a road shuttle, which trips up anyone booking across terminals with a short layover. A World Cup–driven refurbishment has been running through 2026 — bathrooms, gate areas, automated immigration lanes, more bilingual staff. Expect improvement at the margins rather than transformation. Metrobús Line 4 serves both terminals for 30 pesos and is the cheapest civilized way in.
AIFA (Felipe Ángeles) is the correction most worth making. The standard claim — unusable, two hours out, no transport — was true and is not any more. The Tren Suburbano extension from Buenavista opened in 2026, running about 53 minutes for a promotional 45 pesos, with the platform under a minute from the terminal door and service roughly 05:00 to midnight. AIFA remains thin on routes: just over 7 million passengers in 2025, with international service limited to three carriers, and eleven international routes canceled during 2025. Usable now if a domestic flight from AIFA is cheaper or better timed. Not yet a substitute for AICM.
Toluca (TLC) is a third option, now reachable by El Insurgente plus a short transfer, with a thin schedule dominated by low-cost domestic service.
On long-haul: MEX is Latin America’s second-largest hub. To the United States, nonstop service reaches on the order of 25 to 35 airports including every major. To Canada, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, with Calgary seasonal. To Europe, roughly nine to eleven nonstops — Madrid, Paris, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Rome, Istanbul, Lisbon and Barcelona, revived for 2026 — with Milan announced for March 2027. Published direct-destination totals vary widely by source depending on whether seasonal and charter service is counted; treat any precise number with suspicion.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a car?
Almost certainly not. The Metro is 5 pesos, Metrobús 6, Ecobici is 588 pesos a year, and a daily public-transport commuter spends 250–500 pesos a month. Against that you have Hoy No Circula, twice-yearly emissions testing, parking and traffic. Households that keep a car mostly do it for weekends outside the city.
Can I drive my own car down from the US or Canada?
You can, and living with it here is genuinely awkward. Foreign plates are restricted every Saturday, on your plate-digit weekday, and from 5 to 11 a.m. on every other weekday. The Pase Turístico gives you fourteen days a semester and dies the moment a contingency is declared. If you want a car here, buy a Mexican-plated one.
Is the Metro safe?
Broadly yes, with two specifics. Petty theft and phone snatching at rush-hour crowding are real, so keep your phone away and your bag in front. Harassment is a documented problem, which is why the front cars are reserved for women and children under twelve and enforced by police at major stations. Men should not board them.
What is the cheapest way from the airport?
Metrobús Line 4 at 30 pesos, which serves both terminals. Otherwise DiDi at roughly 115–146 pesos or Uber at about 190 to a central neighborhood, against 275–620 for an official airport taxi. You may have to walk to a designated pickup zone.
Is Line 12 still closed?
No. It reopened completely on 30 January 2024 and has run since. Line 1 also reopened in full to Observatorio on 16 November 2025. Both closures generated a lot of guidance that is still circulating and is now simply wrong.
Sources
- Sistema de Transporte Colectivo Metro — network, fares and the December 2025 fare confirmation.
- Metrobús, Servicio de Transportes Eléctricos, Cablebús and Ecobici — published fares and network data, 2026.
- Tren Interurbano México–Toluca — Santa Fe to Observatorio opening, 2 February 2026.
- SEMOVI — Hoy No Circula rules, hologram categories, the foráneo regime and the Pase Turístico.
- Comisión Ambiental de la Megalópolis — Doble Hoy No Circula under contingency.
- Grupo Aeroportuario de la Ciudad de México — AICM 2025 passenger figures and hourly operation caps; AIFA passenger figures for 2025.
- Airline published schedules. Direct-destination counts vary by source; verify before quoting a number.
