Playa del Carmen Weighs QR Code Registry and Insurance for Bicycles and Scooters

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — The Playa del Carmen city council is drafting new rules for bicycles, scooters and other micromobility vehicles that would create a municipal registry, tag each unit with a QR code and require users to carry insurance covering both the rider and third parties, a senior councilman said.

Javier Renán Santos Morales, the city’s sixth councilman and chairman of the council’s Mobility Commission, said the proposal aims to link every vehicle to its owner or responsible user through a QR code.

Officials are also weighing a requirement that users present documents proving where their vehicle came from, a measure intended to give authorities tighter control and make it harder to resell stolen equipment, Santos Morales said.

Insurance and Registration Costs Still Undecided

Another element under review is a requirement that users carry insurance to respond in the event of accidents or damage to third parties. Santos Morales said each person would be free to buy a policy from the company of their choice, though the terms of the coverage are still being studied. The cost of the eventual municipal registration has not been determined either.

The regulation is not yet in force. Santos Morales said the proposal remains under analysis within the commission and will later have to be discussed with specialists and residents before it moves forward. City officials had previously acknowledged work on a micromobility plan, but its implementation depends on that process being completed.

Separate From Traffic Code Update

The councilman stressed that the micromobility proposal is independent of an initiative to update the city’s Municipal Traffic Regulation, meaning the two instruments will follow different procedures.

The debate over micromobility is driven by the growing use of bicycles, scooters and other light vehicles on Playa del Carmen’s streets, and is intended to set specific obligations for their users.