Four battery-powered calandrias began carrying passengers along Rosarito’s malecón this week, replacing the horse-drawn carriages that have served as a tourist fixture along the beachfront for decades. The rollout makes Rosarito the second city on Baja California’s Pacific coast to electrify its traditional carriage rides, following Ensenada’s transition in April 2025. Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda and Rosarito Mayor Rocío Adame Muñoz unveiled the vehicles at a ceremony on the oceanfront corridor.
“The world is changing, and we have to change too,” Mayor Adame said during the handover. “Calandrias are part of Rosarito’s history, and today we take an important step to preserve that tradition with innovation, caring for animal welfare and supporting the families who have provided this service for many years.”
Ensenada Set the Template in April 2025
Rosarito’s four electric units follow a playbook Ensenada tested over a year ago. In April 2025, Ensenada’s municipal government introduced its own fleet of electric carriages along the waterfront tourism zone. That program replaced horse-drawn models that had operated near the Riviera del Pacífico cultural center and the Primer Calle commercial strip for years. Ensenada framed the switch around two pressures: growing public criticism of working conditions for horses on hot pavement, and a state government push to align coastal tourism with sustainability benchmarks.
The Ensenada rollout drew attention from animal welfare groups on both sides of the border. Organizations had campaigned for years against the use of horses on concrete roads in summer heat, citing hoof injuries and dehydration. By the time Rosarito announced its own program, the political ground had shifted. Replacing live animals with electric motors was no longer controversial in Baja California’s coastal cities. It was expected.
The regional pattern fits a broader trend across Mexico. Guadalajara, home to the country’s most famous calandrias, began regulating horse welfare and testing electric prototypes as early as 2023. Mérida, another calandria city in the Yucatán, faced similar pressure from tourism operators and advocacy groups. Baja California’s two Pacific coast conversions now represent some of the first completed municipal transitions in the country.
Rosarito’s Malecón Corridor Serves 500,000 Annual Visitors
The four electric calandrias operate along Rosarito’s main tourist strip, a stretch of oceanfront boulevard running roughly from the Rosarito Beach Hotel south toward Festival Plaza. This corridor draws an estimated 500,000 visitors per year, with heavy foot traffic on weekends from Tijuana day-trippers and San Diego tourists who cross at the San Ysidro port of entry, about 30 minutes north by car.
The rides themselves look similar to the old horse-drawn versions: open-air carriages moving at walking speed, built for sightseeing rather than transport. The electric motors run quieter than the clip-clop of hooves on asphalt, and they produce zero tailpipe emissions. Ride pricing has not been publicly announced for the new fleet, though traditional calandria rides in Rosarito typically cost between 200 and 400 pesos (roughly $10 to $20 USD) for a 20-minute loop.
For the families who have operated calandrias in Rosarito for generations, the transition came with training and equipment support from the state and municipal governments. The operators kept their concessions. They received the electric units at no cost, along with instruction on battery maintenance and charging logistics. Mayor Adame emphasized that the goal was to preserve livelihoods, not eliminate them. The operators still run the same routes, serve the same customers, and collect the same fares.
Animal Welfare Law Drove the State-Level Push
Baja California’s animal welfare law, updated by the state congress in 2022, tightened regulations on working animals in commercial tourism. The updated statute gave municipalities clearer authority to restrict or phase out animal-drawn vehicles on public roads. Governor Marina del Pilar’s administration used the law as a framework for the Ensenada and Rosarito programs, channeling state funds to subsidize the electric replacements rather than simply banning the old ones.
That approach avoided a fight that has stalled similar transitions elsewhere in Mexico. In Guadalajara, proposals to ban horse-drawn calandrias drew fierce opposition from multi-generational operator families who saw their livelihoods threatened. Baja California’s subsidy model offered a different path: replace the equipment, retrain the operators, keep the cultural product alive in a new form.
The coordination between state and municipal government also matters for future projects. Rosarito’s administration has signaled interest in expanding sustainable transport options along the tourism corridor, including electric shuttle service between the malecón and the hotel zone. No timeline or budget for that expansion has been announced.
Whether other Baja California municipalities follow remains an open question. Tecate and San Quintín do not have significant calandria operations, but Loreto and La Paz in Baja California Sur both have waterfront tourism corridors where horse-drawn or mule-drawn rides still operate seasonally. No announcements from those cities have surfaced yet. Rosarito’s four electric calandrias are now in daily operation on the malecón, with the state government describing the fleet as phase one of a broader sustainable tourism initiative. Source reporting from Border Zoom contributed to this article.