Abstract On-board real-time emission experiments were conducted on 78 light-duty vehicles in Bogota. Direct emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and hydrocarbons (HC) were measured. The relationship between such emissions and vehicle specific power (VSP) was established. The experimental matrix included both gasoline-powered and retrofit dual fuel (gasoline–natural gas) vehicles. The results confirm that VSP is an appropriate metric to obtain correlations between driving patterns and air pollutant emissions. Ninety-five percent of the time vehicles in Bogota operate in a VSP between −15.2 and 17.7 kW ton−1, and 50% of the time they operate between −2.9 and 1.2 kW ton−1, representing low engine-load and near-idling conditions, respectively. When engines are subjected to higher loads, pollutant emissions increase significantly. This demonstrates the relevance of reviewing smog check programs and command-and-control measures in Latin America, which are widely based on static (i.e., idling) emissions testing. The effect of different driving patterns on the city’s emissions inventory was determined using VSP and numerical simulations. For example, improving vehicle flow and reducing sudden and frequent accelerations could curb annual emissions in Bogota by up to 12% for CO2, 13% for CO and HC, and 24% for NOx. This also represents possible fuel consumption savings of between 35 and 85 million gallons per year and total potential economic benefits of up to 1400 million dollars per year.