Puerto Rico’s new ‘Marbete Digital’ goes live on DTOP app
The “Marbete Digital,” the electronic version of the registration sticker required for vehicles driven on Puerto Rico’s roads, is now available on the Transportation Department’s Drivers Service Center app, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi announced.
Starting Sept. 1, vehicle owners can renew their annual tag on the app, which combines it with the existing toll pass used for the AutoExpreso toll service. Drivers without the toll sticker on their vehicle will be provided one at the time of renewal, the governor explained.
Those who want to continue using the traditional window sticker option will be able to do so. To register or renew their tags, there are two options: via the Drivers Service Center’s (CESCO, in Spanish) app, CESCO Digital or its website.
Once the system determines that the vehicle is eligible, the app will offer instructions for registering the digital tag. Users may also register it at the different authorized centers or sales points — inspection centers, banks, collections agencies and credit unions.
The process has three implementation phases: the validation or registration of the devices on CESCO Digital, which started Aug. 1; the renewal for all vehicles, except trailers and heavy vehicles, as of Sept. 1; and the renewal for heavy vehicles, which begins Dec. 1.
“The government’s digital transformation is a reality and has an exponential impact on the quality of life of citizens, reducing the time invested in government efforts by 80%,” Pierluisi said.
“This will be a process accessible to 100% of citizens, which eliminates the problem of lack of inventory, reduces printing and distribution costs, reduces lines at collections agencies, reduces transactions at CESCOs, and combats fraud,” he said.
The integration of the information systems of agencies such as the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTOP, in Spanish); the Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Services (PRITS); the Department of the Treasury; the Puerto Rico Police; the Automobile Accident Compensation Administration (ACAA, in Spanish); and the insurer that provides the Compulsory Liability Insurance, ASC, allows the commonwealth government to provide “agile services and greater access to citizens,” he added.
The CESCO Digital service has 2.3 million subscribers, and 122,487 people have already renewed their driver’s licenses virtually. Another 100,000 new drivers have taken their tests virtually and more than 50,000 vehicle owners have transferred them to others through the app, DTOP Secretary Eileen Vélez said.
To validate the validity of the tag, police officers have a tracking device that has already been tested to issue traffic fines, said Police Commissioner Antonio López.
“Added to this tracking device are other methods that agents have to validate compliance with annual rights,” he said. “Once the officer identifies that it isn’t in compliance and the fine is issued, the driver will be able to pay it as they have done up to now, through CESCO Digital, at the collection offices or CESCO centers throughout the island,” López said.
Puerto Rico Public Safety Secretary Alexis Torres explained that there are currently 22,304 fines issued by the police to drivers without a tag or expired tag and assured that “the incorporation of technology in the inspection and compliance of the laws has been of benefit, both for the Police and for the citizens who today have more agile mechanisms for the verification and payment of traffic law violations.”
