Transport in Ecuador

File:29. Aeropuerto de Guayaquil (8).JPG (Guayaquil)]]

• Avianca
• LATAM Airlines

{{main|List of airports in Ecuador}}

345 (2025)

• total: 317 (2025)
• over 3,047 m: 3 (2010)
• 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 (2010)
• 1,524 to 2,437 m: 19 (2010)
• 914 to 1,523 m: 29 (2010)
• under 914 m: 43 (2010)

:total: 261

:914 to 1,523 m:33

:under 914 m:228

28 (2025){{Citation |title=Ecuador |date=2025-03-25 |work=The World Factbook |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/ecuador/#transportation |access-date=2025-03-31 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en}}

{{main|Highways in Ecuador}}

• total: {{convert|43,197|km|mi}}
• paved: {{convert|6,467|km|mi}}
• unpaved: {{convert|36,730|km|mi}} (2004 est.)

The Sierra Region still plays an important role in transportation throughout the country. The Pan-American Highway crosses it from north to south. Ecuador has managed to update some roads into four-lane freeways:

• Quito – Alpichacas. Length: 33 km.
• Guayaquil ring-road. Length: 46 km.
• Guayaquil – Taura. Length: 30 km.
• Guayaquil – Cerro Blanco. Length: 27 km.
• Machala – Pasaje. Length: 23 km.

Ecuador has a variety of bus services.{{citation |title=Defining Central Place Systems through the Analysis of Bus Services: The Case of Ecuador |author=R Bromley |journal=Geographical Journal |year=1979}}

The general types of service include:

• luxury buses — autobús de lujo, which travel the main routes between cities.{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cG2qljj3y6wC |title=The Rough Guide to Ecuador |author=Harry Adès, Melissa Graham}}
• standard buses — these travel more local routes and will stop for any passengers that hails them.
• minibuses — busetas which service the outer fringes of the bus networks
• rancheras — trucks which have been converted to buses by adding wooden benches. These service the poorer, rural areas, along with camionetas, which are converted pickup trucks.

In the capital, Quito, boarding platforms are used to put passengers at the same level as the entrance to the bus.{{citation |title=Bus rapid transit technologies in the Americas: an overview |author=RB Diaz, DC Schneck |journal=Transportation Research Record |year=2000}}

• 485 km extra heavy crude,
• 123 km gas,
• 2,131 km oil,
• 1,526 km refined products (2025){{Citation |title=Ecuador |date=2025-03-25 |work=The World Factbook |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/ecuador/ |access-date=2025-03-31 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en}}

Ecuador has:

• 6 total ports (2024)
• 0 large
• 0 medium
• 2 small
• 4 very small
• 5 ports with oil terminals
• key ports: Esmeraldas, Guayaquil, La Libertad, Manta, Puerto Bolivar, Puerto Maritimo de Guayaquil

• Esmeraldas
• Guayaquil, La Libertad
• Manta
• Puerto Bolívar
• San Lorenzo

• total: 31 ships ({{GT|1,000|disp=long}} or over) totaling {{GT|184,819}}/{{DWT|300,339|metric|disp=long}}
• ships by type: (2006 est.)
• Chemical tanker 1
• gas carrying tanker 1
• Passenger ships 7
• Petroleum tankers 21
• Specialized tanker 1
• Foreign-owned: 2
• Norway 1
• Paraguay 1
• Registered in other countries 1
• Georgia 1

{{main|Rail transport in Ecuador}}

[[File:Railways in Ecuador.svg|thumb|Railways in Ecuador

━━━ Routes with passenger traffic

━━━ Routes in usable state

·········· Unusable or dismantled routes]]

Total:

812 km (single track)

Narrow gauge:

812 km of {{RailGauge|3ft6in}} gauge.

All services ceased in 2020.

There is a proposed rail connection with Colombia. On 5 July 2008, a meeting took place between Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador regarding a railway for freight and passengers to link the three countries, and linking the Pacific with the Atlantic also. There is no railway service to Peru.

In 2020, the Cuenca Tramway (Tranvía Cuenca), the first modern rail transit line in Ecuador, opened for service.

The Quito Metro initiated its commercial operations on 1 December 2023.

{{convert|1500|km|mi}}

• Chiva bus
• Share taxi
• Trolleybuses in Quito

{{Reflist}}

• {{CIA World Factbook}}
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927025616/http://www.volunteeringecuador.info/en/about-ecuador/transportation-in-ecuador.html Useful tips and articles about transportation in Ecuador]}}

{{Commons category|Transport in Ecuador}}

{{Americas topic|Transport in}}

{{Ecuador topics}}

{{Ecuador-transport-stub}}