Transport in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

consists of a variety of modes.

Metro

The Quito Metro (), abbreviated as MDQ, is a rapid transit system in Quito. It currently consists of a single line with 15 stations, which has been operational since January 2023.

Roads

Although public transportation is the primary form of travel in the city, including fleets of taxis that continually cruise the roadways, the use of private vehicles has increased substantially during the past decade. Because of growing road congestion in many areas, there were plans to construct a

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

system, which were conceived to replace the northern portion of the ''Trole''. These plans have been ruled out and replaced by the construction of the first metro line (subway) in 2012. It was in operation on May 2, 2023, joining the existing public transportation network. Because Quito is about long and at its widest, most of the important avenues of the city extend from north to south. The two main motorways that go from the northern part of the city to the southern are Avenue Oriental (Corridor Periférico Oriental) on the eastern hills that border the city, and Avenue Occidental on the western side of the city on the Pichincha volcano. The street 10 de Agosto also runs north to south through most of the city, running down the middle of it. The historic center of the city is based on a grid pattern, despite the hills, with the streets Venezuela, Chile, García Moreno, and Guayaquil being the most important.

Mainline railways

There is a railway that goes through the southern part of Quito and passes through the ''Estación de Chimbacalle''. It is managed by the

Empresa de Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos The Ferrocarriles del Ecuador Empresa Pública (Ecuadorian Railways Company) is the national railway of Ecuador. The railway system was devised to connect the Pacific coast with the Andean highlands. After many decades of service the railway was s ...

(EFE). This railway is nowadays used mostly for tourism.

Buses

The MetrobusQ network, also known as "Red Integrada de Transporte Público", is the bus rapid transit system running in Quito, and it goes through the city from south to north. It's divided into three sections—the green line ( the central trolleybus, known as ''El Trole''), the red line (the north-east

Ecovía Ecovía is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon that began operations in January 2014. Overview As of 2014 Ecovía consists of a single route that runs 30 kilometers serving three different municipalities of the Monterrey Me ...

), and the blue line (the north-west Corridor Central). In addition to the bus rapid transit system, there are many buses running in the city. The buses have both a name and a number, and they have a fixed route. Taxi cabs are all yellow, and they have meters that show the fare. There are nearly 8,800 registered

taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

Cycling

Bici Q is a

bicycle-sharing system A bicycle-sharing system, bike share program, public bicycle scheme, or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a shared transport service where bicycles are available for shared use by individuals at low cost. The programmes themselves include both ...

started by the municipal government of the city, and it has operated since August 2012.

Airports

The

Mariscal Sucre International Airport Mariscal Sucre International Airport is an international airport serving Quito, Ecuador. It is the busiest airport in Ecuador. It is located in the Tababela parish, about east of Quito, and because of its location it is also colloquially know ...

serves as the city's principal airport for passenger travel and freight. The airport is located east of the city's center in the Tababela parish. It began operations on 20 February 2013, replacing the

Old Mariscal Sucre International Airport Mariscal Sucre International Airport was the main international airport that served Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador. It was the busiest airport in Ecuador by passenger traffic, by aircraft movement and by cargo movement, and one of the busiest air ...

located north of the city center within city limits. The old airport was replaced due to tall buildings and nighttime fog that made landing from the south difficult. The old airport has become a metropolitan park.

References

{{reflist Quito Transport in Quito