EcoVia

EcoVia Stop

On Friday of this week a few of the guys decided that we should take advantage of Happy Hour at a local restaurant. It was downtown which would have been a 35 minute drive on a normal day but on a Friday, it would have been at least an hour and a half. Traffic gets bad in Quito. It gets especially nasty on Fridays from 2:00-9:00 so we all decided to take the EcoVia instead.

The EcoVia is the bus system. It runs North through South through all of Quito and in most parts of the city there are separate bus lanes that allow the busses to pass through traffic. A ride on the EcoVia is a quarter.  It is a nice alternative to driving and cabs except for one thing, everyone knows it. The EcoVia is always stupidly full. There are no regulations as to a “maximum” amount of people on it. I have frequently seen it driving past me on the road with well over 200 people in it. Mind you, it is the size of a normal bus that is meant to seat about 50 or so. On the EcoVia, it gets so cramped that any semblance of the idea of personal space disappears. On the EcoVia you are frequently close enough to count the ingrown hairs on the neck of the person in front of you.

Imagine this plus fitting a dozen or so
more people

While that is to be expected, what is not expected is the amount of crime on the EcoVia. People will frequently ride the bus with the sole intent of pick pocketing you. It gets so crowded that your limbs are limited in their movement. If one hand is on the handle or bar above your head while standing, you have at least three pockets unprotected. We have heard stories of people being pickpocketed, having things taken out of the bottom of their backpack, and a variety of other creative theft strategies. It’s pretty disappointing.

On Friday, a group of 10 or so gringos (already standing out) dressed in shirts and ties (aka neck targets) got on the EcoVia and through some clever interior jacket pockets/strategic placement of wallets and cell phones, and general vigilance none of us were robbed. After the happy hour however one of our friends had his wallet and cell phone taken. Just another reminder of the dichotomy of benefit (convenient and quick $.25 bus ride) and dangerous circumstances (crazy high likelihood of petty theft)that are ever present when you live in a South American country.