EcuEVP

Local buses come in some different models and shapes but they are all in general blue, green, red and red/white. In many towns and cities you almost get the feeling sometimes that there are one bus line for every street. They have some bus stops but normally you just flag them down like a taxi anywhere you want along the street and when you arrive to your destination you walk up to the driver and say "gracias" or push the button at the back door and they will stop as soon as possible. You only have one fee of $0.25 so it doesn’t matter how far you go but the hard part is that busses in Ecuador don’t have a number for every line as they instead put a lot of names of places they pass along the way. This can be anything from a big school or hospital to main roads or a park so you need to learn the bus lines one by one and the longer you stay the easier it gets.

NEVER put anything on the shelf over your head as this is an easy invitation to anybody that wants to take it.

Taxis are in general yellow cars in towns and cities on the mainland while on the countryside plus the Galapagos Islands they mostly have yellow or white pickups. The culture of the taxis vary a lot from place to place and even though the law demands that they have a taximeter they don’t always like to use them and on the countryside plus the Galapagos Islands they don’t even have a taximeter installed.

If you take a taxi at a bus terminal, an airport or at night you will often have to argue about the price as they often come with excuses like the taximeter don’t work or that they don’t need to use it after darkness but if you know where you are going and speak some Spanish they will think that you have been around for a while and not overcharge you too much.
If you have traveled a distance a couple of times you will know what it should cost depending on the traffic so you can just pay what it always have said on the taximeter before and as long as you are correct the driver won’t argue to much as he is the one that will get a fine for not using the taximeter.

Long distance buses are easy to take from the bus terminal of each town or city but in smaller towns, villages and even in cities the bus companies have their own small stations from where they start to the destination passing the main terminal. It is very cheap to travel by bus in Ecuador and an easy way to calculate the price is to think $1 per hour travel but this is of course any exact rule.

As buses by day also work as local transportation it can sometimes take a lot of extra time to reach the destination so an option that is available for at least longer trips is to take a night bus. It is not any more dangerous to take the night buses and you can easier fall asleep or rest with the darkness and for a trip to for example Cuenca from Quito it can be a couple of hours faster compared to the day bus.

On longer distance buses you have to put bigger luggage in the compartments bellow and they often use a system with a number on each bag to avoid that anybody takes the wrong bag or even try to steal. Anything valuable should be in a smaller bag that you can keep in your lap or hanging over one leg to always be in control of it.

NEVER put anything on the shelf over your head as this is an easy invitation to anybody that wants to take it.