QCOSTARICA – July comes a couple of important hikes in driving around Costa Rica.
One is the increase in tolls on the Ruta 27 (San Jose – Caldera) of between ¢10 and ¢50 colones. The increase will be felt at toll stations in Cuidad Colon, La Guacima, Atenas and Pozon.
The only station not to see an increase will be Escazu, the busiest, where the tolls will remain at ¢330 colones for light passenger vehicles and motorcycles.
That is it the word from Globalvia, the private company holding the concession for the 77 kilometre road between La Sabana park in San Jose and Caldera, Puntarenas.
The increase, according to Globalvia, is based on the regular (quarterly) adjustment in the concession contract, which allows the concessionaire to make changes to the tolls based on the dollar exchange rate. The colon as risen more than ¢10 colones against the U.S. dollar in the past week.
Two is a hike in gasoline prices that is expected to take effect on Saturday (July 2).
Last week the Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Publicos (Aresep) approved an increase of ¢84 colones for a litre of super, ¢77 for regular (or plus) and ¢71 for diesel.
The increase takes effect the day following the publication in La Gaceta, which is to occur within five working days of the Aresep approval. Since the publication was not published in today’s edition (June 30) of La Gaceta, it will be tomorrow (the fifth day), with the hike taking effect at the 00:01 Saturday.
The new prices at the pumps will be ¢602 (¢518) for super; ¢575 (¢498) for regular; and diesel ¢451 (¢380) for a litre of diesel.
Best fill your tank by tomorrow (Friday) afternoon to avoid the lines and possible ‘out of gas’ at your corner station.