The Hoy No Circula program will run regularly this Friday, February 20, in Mexico City and the State of Mexico, without an environmental contingency activated despite poor air quality reported the previous Thursday. Environmental authorities noted the presence of ozone and PM10 and PM2.5 particles, but the Double Hoy No Circula was not implemented. Vehicles with blue stickers and plate endings 9 and 0, with verification holograms 1 and 2, will not be allowed to circulate.
Mexico City and the State of Mexico are maintaining the Hoy No Circula program in normal operation for Friday, February 20, 2026, according to environmental authorities' reports. Although poor air quality was recorded on Thursday, February 19, at 5:00 p.m., with pollutants such as ozone, PM10, and PM2.5, no environmental contingency or Double Hoy No Circula was declared for that day or the next.
The vehicle restriction applies from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. in the 16 boroughs of CDMX and 18 bordering municipalities in Edomex, aiming to reduce atmospheric pollution in the Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Mexico. On this Friday, private automobiles with blue stickers and plate endings 9 and 0, holding verification holograms 1 and 2, will be prohibited from circulating. This includes out-of-state vehicles with these features, except for those with holograms 00 and 0, which can travel daily.
The Hoy No Circula program organizes weekly circulation by sticker color and last plate digit: Tuesdays for pink (7 and 8), Wednesdays for red (3 and 4), Thursdays for green (1 and 2), Fridays for blue (9 and 0), and Mondays for yellow (5 and 6). Sundays allow all vehicles to circulate freely, unless an extraordinary contingency is declared.
The Megalopolis Environmental Commission (CAMe) activates contingencies when ozone levels exceed 150 points at monitoring stations, a threshold that has been lowered over time to protect public health, as explained by President Claudia Sheinbaum in her February 17 conference. She noted that the transition period between winter and spring increases contingencies due to seasonal factors and adjustments in parameters.
Additionally, a heat alert issued for Thursday, February 19, warns of temperatures up to 32 degrees Celsius in several boroughs, which could promote pollutant accumulation. At 2:00 p.m. that day, air quality was poor at points like Merced, Hospital General de México, Nezahualcóyotl, UAM Xochimilco, Cuautitlán, and Tlalnepantla.
Affected Edomex municipalities include Atizapán de Zaragoza, Coacalco de Berriozábal, Cuautitlán, Cuautitlán Izcalli, Chalco, Chicoloapan, Chimalhuacán, Ecatepec, Huixquilucan, Ixtapaluca, La Paz, Naucalpan de Juárez, Nezahualcóyotl, Nicolás Romero, Tecámac, Tlalnepantla de Baz, Tultitlán, and Valle de Chalco. Violating the restriction can result in fines.
