The Municipality of Quito denied the request because it considers that the assembly members are not a priority attention group
The president of the National Assembly, Guadalupe Llori, asked the Municipality of Quito to include the assembly members and the Parliament authorities in the list of exceptions to be able to circulate in their vehicles without restrictions, due to the implementation of the peak vehicle restriction system and license plate.
Since December 15, 2021, new restriction times for vehicular circulation apply in Quito, the time slot for the peak and license plate ranges from 06:00 to 09:30 and in the afternoon, from 16:00 to 21 : 00.
The schedules and plates of the Peak and Plate in Quito for this January 11, 2022
The exclusion applies to vehicles of the Presidency and Vice-presidency of the Republic, the cars of the diplomatic and consular corps accredited in the country. Also people with disabilities and the elderly who must present the respective card.
100% electric or zero-emission vehicles are not restricted, as well as public transport, urban and inter-parish buses, the Metrobús system, school, institutional and legally registered tourism.
The president of the Parliament, Guadalupe Llori, in her petition asks the Municipality of Quito to extend the resolution of October 27, 2021 regarding the regulations for the implementation of the vehicle traffic restriction and regularization plan called pico and plate, including within the article 10, related to the exceptions, to the Legislative Function, since the assembly members, and Parliament authorities, carry out activities and meet in person, which makes it imperative to guarantee the mobilization to and from the Legislative Palace.
It also suggests that the institutional credential of the National Assembly be the safe-conduct that will allow the assembly members and authorities of the Parliament to circulate without being subject to vehicle restriction.
Municipality denies request
On January 7, the National Assembly received the negative response from the Municipality of Quito through a document signed by the Secretary General of the Metropolitan Council, Pablo Santillán Paredes, where he points out that assembly members are not a priority group.
Specifically, it indicates “it is not possible to affirmatively respond to your request, since currently the exceptions are enshrined in current regulations and these respond to the needs of priority care groups and rights enshrined in the Constitution of Ecuador, supported by technical reports issued by the Ministry of Mobility of the DMQ ”.
It also explains that the implementation of the plan for the restriction and regularization of vehicular circulation called pico and plate, aims to optimize vehicular circulation, streamline traffic flow, ensure safe and more comfortable circulation, reduce environmental pollution rates, decrease energy consumption and rationalize motorized trips, with exceptions currently contained in Metropolitan Ordinance No. 001 that contains the Municipal Code for the Metropolitan District of Quito.
That the establishment of exceptions to any regulations of general and abstract scope must respond to criteria of legitimacy, suitability, necessity and proportionality, in accordance with the standards established in a stable and repeated manner by the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, in cases such as that signed with No. 34-19-IN and Accumulated, in which when analyzing the equality test, it is established that unequal treatment must be reasonable, so that it can be considered constitutionally admissible.
In the Santillán document, he points out that there is no doubt about the legitimacy of an eventual extension of the exceptions to the measures of restriction to vehicular circulation, as they are based on the right to free mobility and the right to work.
However, the measure would not meet the criteria of suitability because, although the national importance of legislative work is recognized, it is no less true that the same criterion could be applied to other functions of the State, people who provide public services, services of the food chain and any other type of service that generates social benefits. “If the measure is extended without proper criteria of rights, we would be distorting the measure, to the point that it would become ineffective,” he warns.
In the same line of reasoning, the proposed measure is not necessary either, given that the legislative servants have more than one mobility option, among which is institutional transport and public transport, which has operated with total normality in the city since the validity of the plan of restriction and regularization of vehicular circulation called pico and plate.
Finally, in the document sent to the legislature, every person is exhorted to respect and abide by the current legal regulations, especially the authorities that exercise their powers in the service of the country, always acting with national service, that is, with example to all the people who reside within the Ecuadorian territory. (I)
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