Trolleybus Quito

Car 21 at the Estadio stop

Route length:

18.7 km

Power system :

750 volts =

Maximum slope :

157 ‰

Top speed:

60 km / h

Legend


	0.0	Estación Norte La "Y"
		La "Y"
		Estadio
		La Carolina
		Florón
		Mariana de Jesús
		Cuero y Caicedo
		Colón
		Santa Clara
		Mariscal
		Ejido
		La Alameda
		Banco Central

		San Blas
	6.7	Plaza del Teatro
		Plaza Grande

		Santo Domingo
		Cumandá
		Recoleta
		Jefferson Perez
		Colina
		Chimbacalle
		Villa flora
	11.2	Estación Sur El Recreo


		Calzado
		España
		Quito Sur
		Internacional
		Ajaví
		Solanda
		Mercado Mayorista
		Quimiag
		Registro Civil
	16.1	Morán Valverde

		Amaruñan
		Cóndor Ñan
	18.7	Estación Quitumbe

The Quito trolleybus ( Spanish : Trolebús de Quito or colloquially el Trole ) is the only trolleybus operator in Ecuador . It is run by the transport company Compañía Trolebús Quito SA - formerly Unidad Operadora del Sistema Trolebús / UOST - and forms the backbone of local public transport in the Ecuadorian capital Quito .

history

In 1994, when construction began on the trolleybus route, electric local transport was introduced in the metropolis of Quito for the second time. The first was the Quito tram , the Tranvía de Quito , which ran from 1914 to 1948 . The construction of the route was accompanied by acts of sabotage by the bus and taxi companies concerned about their interests and partly took place under police protection. The new trolleybus system was finally put into operation on December 18, 1995. It still consists of a single route, and there are no branches. This runs through the elongated city from north (stop Estación Norte La "Y" , spoken [depending]) to south (stop Estación Quitumbe ). A total of 37 stops are served, five of which are only in one direction. The individual sections went into operation as follows:

date	section	length	overall length
December 18, 1995	Estación Sur El Recreo - Plaza del Teatro	4.5 km	4.5 km
March 19, 1996	Plaza del Teatro - Colón	?	?
April 21, 1996	Colón - Estación Norte La "Y"	?	11.2 km
April 30, 2000	Estación Sur El Recreo - Morán Valverde	4.9 km	16.1 km
December 19, 2008	Morán Valverde - Estación Quitumbe	2.6 km	18.7 km

A special feature are the steep gradients in some places, the route is up to 15.7 percent steep. Today, the Quito trolleybus transports around 250,000 passengers a day; the planning was based on the assumption that there would only be 120,000 passengers per day.

Infrastructure and operations

Car 91 on line C1

The separated special route in the area of an underpass

Car 19 during a stopover

The trolleybus route in Quito is largely laid out similar to a Bus Rapid Transit or lane bus system, independent of individual traffic, but operation is not lane-guided. As a special feature, all stops are equipped with 65 cm high and covered bus platforms, these are similar to the elevated platforms known from light rail systems . The entry into the car is therefore stepless, similar to a modern light rail. Because these are central bus platforms south of the Estación Sur El Recreo stop, comparable to the central platforms in rail traffic, the trolleybuses there, contrary to the usual traffic regulations, operate on the left . The stops also have access barriers . The trip costs 0.25 US dollars , with special plastic tokens being issued in advance , which can be used to pass the turnstiles when entering the bus platform.

The route is used by lines C1, C2, C4, C5 and CQ-R, but some of them only serve certain sections. Lines C2, C4 and C5 are express lines ( semiexpresos ), they only serve certain stops. This overlapping of lines means that there is a dense cycle, with trolleybuses sometimes running every two minutes. A maximum of 103 of the total of 113 existing cars are in use at the same time; they are distributed over the five lines as follows:

C1: 49 cars
C2: 29 cars
C4: 12 cars
C5: 8 cars
CQ-R: 5 cars

vehicles

The vehicle fleet today consists of 113 articulated vehicles with auxiliary diesel drives , the type designation is O 405 G HCE . Of these, 54 are from the early days (years of construction 1995 and 1996), the remaining 59 were purchased in 1999 and 2000 as part of the expansion of the system. The latter differ in technical details from the cars initially delivered.

All cars were produced as a joint venture between Daimler-Benz (chassis), Hispano Carrocera (body) and Kiepe / Adtranz (electrical equipment). Each vehicle offers 43 seats and 138 standing places, the maximum speed is 60 km / h, the electrical voltage 750 volts DC . The cars are specially adapted to the elevated platforms and have no steps. There is only an emergency staircase at the front of the three doors; passengers can use it to exit the vehicles outside the stations.

Role model function

Due to the independent routing and elevated platforms, the trolleybus system in Quito was unique in the world when it opened and caused a lot of sensation. After the success in Quito, other cities in South America have included this passenger transport concept in their plans. The Mérida trolleybus in Venezuela of the same type went into operation in 2006, but was shut down again in 2016. Another system of this type was built in Barquisimeto , also in Venezuela , in 2005, but ultimately - apart from a brief electrical test run - it was implemented with diesel buses.