Bus, trolley and Ecovia

Within Quito the bus system includes the old buses and well as the newer trolley and Ecovia transport systems that run up and down one route. Buses are simple and inexpensive but always watch your bags and wallet. The trolley system, with its arched, glass-walled stops, runs along 10  de Agosto in the new town and along Guayaquil and Montufar in the old town. The Ecovia runs along 6 de Diciembre, and the newer yellow citibuses serve La Prensa and Av America and pass right in front of the airport. After running through the central corridor of the city, the trolleys branch off onto different routes to the suburbs. At $0.25 per ride, the trolleys are inexpensive.

Ejecutivo bus services are a bit more expensive. Most buses run along the north-south city axis and have the name of their destination on a placard in the window.

Taxis are inexpensive compared to most other places in the world, but make sure that the driver uses his meter. If he claims it's broken, negotiate the fare beforehand or find another taxi. Don't be put off by horror stories of passengers being mugged by taxi drivers. Such rare incidents occur when the passenger is very drunk and/or it's an illegal cab. Only take the yellow cabs with a red taxi sign on top and an official four-digit number displayed in the top right-hand corner of the windscreen. If you want to be extra safe, only use cabs from lines outside major hotels. At night, taxi fares are up to 50% more than during the day, and fares are more prone to negotiation as drivers often don't use their meters after 10pm.

Last updated 21st July 2006

 

|Article contributed by Dominic Hamilton|||

|^|to top|