Intercity vans and buses no longer pick up passengers along Tulum's main avenue. Boarding now happens only at the authorized Tulum bus terminals, under a scheme municipal authorities and concessionaires launched in late July.
The people it first affects are those without a car. A resident of Aldea Tulum who used to wave down a Playa del Carmen colectivo halfway up the avenue now has to reach a terminal before the trip starts. To cover that distance, a free feeder service began running on Friday, July 24, and it stays free while the municipal mobility office finishes marking the routes.
Boarding moves to the Tulum bus terminals
The rule is narrow and blunt. Intermediate stops for foráneo service, the vans and buses that run between municipalities, are eliminated. Passengers get on and off at terminals, nowhere else.
Manuel Solís, secretary general of the Sindicato de Taxistas Tiburones del Caribe, said the measure targets the congestion those units create when they halt on a road with two lanes and no shoulder to absorb a stopped vehicle. On a street that narrow, a parked van is a closed lane, and everything behind it waits. Tulum's main avenue carries local traffic, tourist traffic, delivery trucks and the taxi fleet through the same two channels.
Free rides from Aldea Tulum and Las Palmas
The link service started Friday and connects Aldea Tulum and the Las Palmas subdivision with the bus terminals. Riders pay nothing for it at the moment. That is a transition measure rather than a policy: the Dirección de Movilidad Municipal is still completing route signage and marking the official boarding and drop-off points, and the union framed the free period as cover for the adaptation.
Nobody has said what the fare becomes once the signs go up.
Solís points to Carrillo Puerto and Playa del Carmen
The model is not new in Quintana Roo. Solís said Felipe Carrillo Puerto and Playa del Carmen already run foráneo service out of terminals only, and that circulation flows better where that rule holds. Playa del Carmen has spent years moving its intercity colectivos off the street grid and toward fixed points under the highway overpasses.
The groundwork in Tulum is older than the announcement. In February, Imoveqroo's leadership met in the municipality with mobility and transit officials and the taxi union to review a terminal for foráneo units, alongside a user service center for taxi passengers and video surveillance inside the fleet. The terminal consolidation announced in July is the visible end of that file.
A World Cup that landed at 42.1 percent
Solís set the change against a harder backdrop. Both 2025 and 2026 have run slow for the transport sector, he said, and the international soccer tournament the industry expected to lift arrivals did not deliver what was forecast.
State figures support the disappointment. During the tournament window, Quintana Roo hotels averaged 56 percent occupancy, according to the state Tourism Secretariat, and Tulum finished lowest among the major destinations at 42.1 percent. Empty rooms show up in a driver's day long before they show up in a quarterly report. Fewer guests means fewer airport runs, fewer beach club trips, fewer rides between the hotel zone and town.
App rides without a concession
The union's answer to the slump is digital. Solís said drivers are being moved onto platforms such as Eiby Taxi and InDrive, where a passenger can see the driver's identity, the vehicle details and the applicable fare before the trip begins.
The complaint attached to that is a familiar one. Private vehicles are taking rides through apps without a concession, without official identification and without the required insurance, Solís said, which leaves the Instituto de Movilidad del Estado de Quintana Roo trying to supervise a service that leaves no registry behind. A car with no plate on any concession list is a car no inspector can find.
Five to 10 pesos, and only from high-demand points
On fares, Solís drew a hard line. The only permitted adjustment runs between five and 10 pesos, and only on trips originating at high-demand points such as terminals and shopping centers. Anything charged beyond that is not authorized.
Visible fare boards are due to be installed so riders can check the figure themselves rather than argue it at the window. The union also keeps a permanent training program running, covering how drivers handle tourists and residents and how transparently they charge.
The free shuttle holds until the mobility office finishes the signage. Whether it stays free after that, and what a rider from Las Palmas ends up paying to reach a bus that used to stop closer to home, is the part nobody has put a number on.
Does moving every pickup to the terminals make your trip through Tulum easier or just longer? Join the conversation and share your perspective with us on Instagram and Facebook at @thetulumtimes.