Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas (DTOP)

Call and Ride: AMA transport for those who cannot board a bus

AMA’s ADA paratransit. You must be certified eligible, the application is processed in 21 business days, and the no-show policy has exact numbers.

August 16, 2026

The AMA bus: which towns it reaches, how many routes there are, and how to complain

AMA runs 24 routes and 101 buses across eight metro-area municipalities, plus 44 Call and Ride buses.

August 16, 2026

A pothole damaged your car: how to claim from DTOP and what the ceiling is

The claim goes to DTOP’s Citizen Services Office with a notarised SC-862 form. By law, no more than $1,000.

August 16, 2026

Carrying people in a pickup bed or a truck: what the law says

Act 78 of 1955 bans carrying passengers, paid or free, in vehicles not structurally designed for it, with three narrow exceptions.

August 24, 2026

Approached to be sent to a certain doctor or photographer: the law that bans it

Act 60-1970 makes it illegal to enter Public Works grounds intending to convince you to use a certain doctor, photographer or vehicle.

August 24, 2026

Your vehicle: what you must report and how long it can be held

Act 8-1987 sets the owner’s duties — theft, plates, recovery in 10 days, engine change by sworn declaration — and caps investigative holds at 30 days.

August 25, 2026

Benefits & Assistance

Fifty per cent discounts and free transit at 70: the new 2025 law

Act 160-2025 gives 50% off shows and public transit, free rides from age 70, and says no specific card is required to claim the right.

August 25, 2026

Documents & Certificates

Licences and certificates in both official languages

Act 107-1997 orders DTOP, Health and Education to amend regulations so the driver’s licence, marriage licence and certain certificates are bilingual.

August 25, 2026

Red light: the $500 fine and suspension after three offences

Act 33-2026 clarifies that the three offences suspending a licence for three years are counted within that licence’s validity period.

August 26, 2026

Medical exemption to tint your vehicle's windows

Act 160-2026 confirms that patients with autism, sensory processing disorder and other conditions qualify for the medical tint exemption.

August 26, 2026

Yielding to an ambulance: what the law requires and the $500 fine

Act 133-2026 raised the fine from $100 to $500. Pulling right and stopping is not courtesy: Article 6.14A requires it.

August 27, 2026

Fine amnesty: 40% off Auto Expreso and marbete debts

Act 1-2026 takes 40% off the total — principal, interest and surcharges — if you pay in time. Check first whether the window is still open.

August 27, 2026

Alcohol and drug limits for driving

Act 22-2000 sets four thresholds by age and vehicle type, and says having a prescription for the drug is not a defence.

Penalties for drink driving

A $500 fine the first time, jail from the second, licence revoked indefinitely on the third and vehicle confiscation for repeat offenders.

Drink driving that harms someone

Three years for bodily harm, five for grave bodily harm and a fixed fifteen if it causes death, with the licence suspended from one to seven years.

The breath and sobriety tests

Driving in Puerto Rico gives consent to the tests. Refusing leads to arrest and a blood draw with a prior court order.

Rehabilitation and licence after a DUI

ASSMCA reports in thirty days, the court sentences in ten, and the licence returns when you pass the course or if the Department is late.

The driver’s bill of rights

Two paid hours to renew your licence, fines only from the last eighteen months, and automatic exoneration if the ticket is missing data.

The cyclist’s bill of rights

Three feet when passing, ten before retaking the lane, and eight years in prison if the breach gravely injures or kills the cyclist.

What to do after a crash

Stopping is mandatory and failing to revokes your licence. There are four hours to notify the Police if they did not investigate on scene.

Seat belts and child car seats

A hundred dollars per unbelted passenger, five hundred for the child seat, and no child under twelve rides in front if there is a back seat.

Pedestrian and driver duties

The pedestrian is not always right: they have seven duties and a hundred dollar fine. But the driver must protect them even when they are wrong.

Phones and smoking while driving

A hundred dollars for a phone without hands-free, and no exception for buses, school transport, trucks or motorcycles. Smoking with a minor is $250.

Abandoned and scrap vehicles

After twenty-four hours it is presumed abandoned. If yours was towed you have sixty days to collect it and thirty to challenge in court.

ATVs and scooters on public roads

They may not travel paved roads: a misdemeanour with a thousand-dollar fine, up to five thousand, and the vehicle shall be confiscated.

Stopping for the school bus, and more

Three hundred dollars for not stopping for school transport, two hundred for not yielding to a blind person and fifty for driving without visibility.

Speed limits

Twenty-five urban, forty-five rural, fifteen in a school zone. A hundred dollars plus ten per mile over — and driving too slowly is fined too.

Street racing and reckless driving

Five thousand dollars and six months without a licence for racing or wheelies, with the vehicle confiscated. Fifteen years for death plus fleeing.

Overtaking and lane use

You overtake on the left; on the right only in three cases. Driving on the shoulder costs five hundred dollars, ten times the other offences.

Right of way, turns and signals

Left yields to right, the one going down yields to the one climbing, and you signal a hundred feet before. Not stopping for an ambulance costs five hundred.

Parking, towing and the auction

The twenty-four places you may not park, the five-hundred-dollar fine for blocking a ramp, and the fifty-five plus fifty-five the tow truck charges.

Tolls and AutoExpreso: paying and fines

Using the AutoExpreso lane without a tag is a hundred dollars; other breaches, fifteen plus the toll. And nobody may charge you extra fees.

Who may not use the toll motorway

Twelve things may not travel the toll motorway, among them bicycles, unauthorised motorcycles and tyres worn below 2/32. The base fine is a hundred dollars.

What the Act charges for each transaction

Article 23.02 publishes the full table: forty-four dollars for a car, thirty-five for a motorcycle, fifteen for a transfer, three for a duplicate marbete.

The 30% discount for having no fines

Twelve months with no infractions earn a thirty per cent discount on the marbete base charge, with two DTOP certifications and one single vehicle.

Camera and AutoExpreso fines

You have a hundred and twenty hours to pay the toll before the fine, and they have ninety days to post it. If they miss it, the fine is wiped.

The Digital Marbete: how it works

It is your toll tag turned into your registration sticker. Which vehicles qualify, how to register it in CESCO Digital and when you may peel the sticker off.

Paying owed tolls in CESCO Digital

They are paid from the app, up to $5,000 per transaction and without an AutoExpreso account. Without paying them there is no marbete renewal.

Adopt a Highway: how it works

A formal agreement with DTOP to maintain a stretch of state road. The agency installs two signs with your name and offers technical guidance.

Tren Urbano: hours and tickets

16 stations across San Juan, Guaynabo and Bayamón, every day from 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. The ticket machines take cash only.

ATI fares: train and bus

The regular fare is $0.75 and routes 20 and 30 cost $2.00. The unlimited card runs from $5.00 for a day to $90.00 for ninety.