The trolleybus system is composed of a single 18.7-km line that runs, with a few exceptions, through the part of Ecuador Highway 35 that is within Quito. The three segments of E 35 inside Quito are Avenida Diez de Agosto, Calle Guayaquil and Avenida Pedro Vicente Maldonado. Seven different passenger services, or circuitos, are operated along the trolleybus route, differing in their terminus locations but overlapping one another. The initial 11.2-km line opened in three stages between 17 December 1995 and 21 April 1996, and connected the La "Y" district, in northern Quito and near Mariscal Sucre International Airport, to the El Recreo shopping mall, in southern Quito, via the city center. On 30 April 2000, the line was extended south by 5 km to Morán Valverde. On 19 December 2008, it was extended farther south and east, by 2.5 km, to Quitumbe, where it terminates at a large new intercity-bus station. This latest extension brought the length of the full line to 18.7 km. Between the Machángara River and the Villa Flora stop, the line originally followed separate streets in opposite directions: southbound along Avenida Cardenal Carlos Maria de la Torre and northbound along Avenida Maldonado, but the section along Cardenal de la Torre was closed in 2003, and the route thereafter has followed Avenida Maldonado in both directions along that section.
Operation
Service is provided by a fleet of 113 articulated trolleybuses, built by Hispano Carrocera and Mercedes-Benz, with electrical equipment by Kiepe Elektrik and AEG/Adtranz. For the first phase, 54 vehicles were delivered in 1995-96. Another 59 very similar vehicles were delivered in 1999-2000 for the system's expansion. The line operates in dedicated trolleybus-only lanes over almost its entire length, and the trolleybuses are given traffic-signal priority at most intersections. Large terminals, called Estaciones, are located at the line's two original termini, Estación Norte La "Y" and Estación Sur El Recreo, and also at Morán Valverde and Quitumbe. In between these large terminals are many smaller stations, known as paradas, spaced about 550 meters apart, on average. In addition to the traffic separation and signal priority, other features of El Trole intended to facilitate fast service—and making the operation similar to many light rail lines—include the arrangements at stops:
All fare collection takes place off of the vehicles, and the boarding area is a "paid area", to which passengers are given access only upon paying or showing a prepaid fare instrument such as a monthly pass. This allows boarding and alighting to take place simultaneously at all three doorways of each vehicle.
All stops have high-level boarding platforms that are vertically aligned with the floors of the trolleybuses, allowing level, step-free boarding. The vehicles are equipped at each doorway with bridge plates that fold down at stops, to bridge the gap between the vehicle and the platform.
The scheduled service frequency is very high at most times, over most of the line, with the headways/intervals being as short as 60 seconds during peak periods. All four of the major Estaciones are served by several suburban bus routes, "feeding" the trolleybus line, and transfers made there are free. The original operator of El Trole was a department of the municipal government known as Unidad Operadora del Sistema Trolebús, but around March 2008 operation was transferred to Compañía Trolebús Quito S.A., a newly formed private company that is believed to be still municipally owned.
Stop locations
These are the stations and stops of the trolleybus line and the street intersections where they are located: Avenida Diez de Agosto:
Estación Norte - La "Y": Av. 10 de Agosto y Cofanes
Parada La "Y": Av. 10 de Agosto y Pereira
Parada Estadio : Avs. 10 de Agosto y Naciones Unidas
