GUADALAJARA, JALISCO – Mexico is burdened with aging fleets, saturated routes, a shortage of drivers , and increasing pressure to migrate to cleaner technologies. All of this is happening simultaneously, in a context where the energy transition is no longer a futuristic aspiration, but an immediate challenge for cities and the trucking industry, according to experts.
That is the starting point for the discussions that various international and national voices have put on the table: how to achieve sustainable transport without losing sight of the operational , financial and social reality of the country.
The setting for the discussion: Expo Transporte ANPACT 2025 and its panel “Modernization of road transport” , where specialists commented that one of the deepest problems is that Mexico has an unequal fleet.
While private tractor-trailers average between eight and 10 years of age, the federal public service fleet reaches 19 years, with units that continue to circulate under obsolete emissions standards, explained Jesús Padilla, founding president of the Mexican Association of Transportation and Mobility (AMTM) .
This gap impacts everything: pollution, fuel consumption, costs, and safety. A modern vehicle can pollute up to 90% less and consume about 20% less fuel than one manufactured two decades ago, explained Leonardo Gómez, executive president of the National Association of Private Transportation (ANTP) .
But technology alone doesn’t solve anything. Another structural problem is financial capacity. Renewing fleets, adapting infrastructure, or migrating to clean energy requires resources that are currently insufficient, the panelists explained.
One of the participants was the Swedish ambassador to Mexico, Gunnar Alden, who stressed that “investment is very important” and highlighted the relevance of cooperation between companies, government, academia and civil society to promote sustainable transportation solutions.
He pointed out that it is necessary to create collaboration centers , like those that exist in Sweden, where these four sectors work together in the search for comprehensive solutions.
Based on the experience of public transportation, it is recognized that Mexico would need at least 100 billion pesos annually to maintain operating systems, renew units, and sustain fares that do not affect the user, Padilla said.
And that’s where another dilemma arises: governments promote modernization strategies, but budgets don’t keep pace . Meanwhile, systems deteriorate, maintenance becomes more expensive, and service quality declines. Users lose mobility, and cities lose competitiveness, Padilla explained.
These challenges are compounded by the climate emergency. Electromobility has gone from being a trend to a necessity, but it comes with new questions: Where should the energy come from? What should be done with the batteries once they reach the end of their lifespan? How can we prepare cities where there is no longer space for charging stations or parking areas?
It’s a technical problem, but also an environmental one. Johanna Wysluch, director of projects: sustainable cities and transport, German cooperation agency GIZ , pointed out that if the transition is not accompanied by circular economy schemes (recycling, second life batteries, materials recovery), Mexico could face a new type of pollution .
Wysluch said that more than 1,800 tons of lithium-ion batteries have already been recovered through initiatives supported by international cooperation.
Digitization appears as an additional layer to the problem. Without data, there is no planning. Without planning , there is no efficiency. The experience in Oaxaca and the State of Mexico, where more than 800 routes were digitized using the General Transportation Feeds Specification (GTFS), showed that information can change how citizens access transportation. However, most of the country still operates without traceability, without clear frequencies, and without unified platforms, which limits any attempt at modernization, according to Wisluch.
In freight transport , another major debate revolves around the double semi-trailer. Although figures support the claim that it is the vehicle “that pollutes the least per ton-kilometer transported” and one of the safest, legislative discussion persists. For the industry, the real problem is not the vehicle itself, but the lack of modernization and training: a modern double semi-trailer requires more technology, more safety measures, and better-trained operators, according to Gómez.
“The double semi-trailer is the vehicle that pollutes the least,” said Gómez.
In the end, the panelists agreed that Mexico’s transportation problems are systemic. They cannot be solved with a single decree, a single technology, or a single operational change. They require coordination between industry, government, and international cooperation . They require financing, effective legislation, and clean energy.
The challenges are an aging fleet , a shortage of operators, insufficient infrastructure, limited financing, lagging regulation, and an energy transition that is moving faster than the institutional capacity to keep up.
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