Playa del Carmen Tricycle Operators See Winter Season Boost

Playa del Carmen, Mexico — Traditional tricycle transportation is experiencing a favorable winter season, with occupancy levels between 70 and 80 percent, according to the city’s tricycle operators’ union.

The uptick marks one of the best year-end performances since the pandemic and generates positive expectations for the start of 2026.

David Chan Poot, secretary of organization and propaganda for the union, explained that recovery has been gradual during 2025 and has strengthened in recent months, driven primarily by national and local tourism, as well as visitors from the United States.

Currently, the guild consists of 24 active tricycle operators who work from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., mainly on Fifth Avenue and areas near hotels and high-traffic tourist points.

Among the services they provide are luggage transport to the ferry, assistance for elderly people, tourist tours through the downtown area and Fifth Avenue, as well as connections to vans heading to Cancún and Tulum.

Chan Poot noted that the end of 2025 was “very good” in terms of demand and that for the first months of 2026, occupancy levels close to 60 percent are expected, as was the case before the pandemic. Traditionally, activity begins to decline toward May.

The tricycle service in Playa del Carmen has been operating for more than five decades and forms part of the city’s traditional transportation.

Many of its operators have decades of experience, which, according to the guild, helps maintain the preference of residents and visitors.

Despite changes in urban mobility and competition with other transportation methods, tricycle operators continue to be a viable alternative for short-distance travel and direct tourism service in the city center.