Guayaquil regulates the career of its civil traffic agents

The Municipal Council of Guayaquil issued the Ordinance regulating the Career, Entry, Training, Promotions, and Evaluations Plan of the Guayaquil Civil Transit Agents Corps, published in the Official Registry Special Edition No. 1656 on Friday, September 18, 2026. The regulation governs the processes of admission, pre-selection, selection, entry, training, capacity building, specialization, permanence, and promotion of municipal transit servants. The text was approved in the first debate on August 27 and in the second debate on September 3, 2026.

Procedure, sanction, and legal framework

The ordinance was sanctioned on September 8, 2026, by Econ. Tatiana Coronel Flores, Acting Mayor of Guayaquil, and certified by Abg. Paulo Roberto Salas Plúas, Secretary of the M. I. Municipal Council of Guayaquil. It enters into force upon its publication in the Official Registry, without prejudice to its dissemination in the municipal Official Gazette.

The regulation is based on the COESCOP, the Organic Law of Land Transport, Transit, and Road Safety (LOTTTSV), and the COOTAD, and incorporates Resolution No. 006-CNC-2012 of the National Council of Competencies, which transferred transit competence to the municipalities, as well as Ministerial Agreement No. 013-2022 of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. Application corresponds to the Municipal Public Company of Transit and Mobility of Guayaquil, EP (EPMTMG, EP).

Ranks and service times

The career is organized into two levels and eight ranks, with maximum times of active and effective service:

• Management Level: Transit Chief (10 years), Deputy Transit Chief (7 years), and Transit Inspector (5 years).
• Technical-Operational Level: Transit Sub-inspector (7 years), 4th Transit Agent (8 years), 3rd Transit Agent (8 years), 2nd Transit Agent (6 years), and 1st Transit Agent (6 years).

The highest authority of the Management Level shall be appointed by the Mayor of Guayaquil via resolution, from a shortlist prepared by the Qualifications and Promotions Commission, and shall exercise their functions for a maximum period of two years.

Entry requirements and tests

Applicants for the technical-operational level must be between 18 and 24 years, 11 months, and 30 days old; those for the management level, a maximum of 34 years, 11 months, and 30 days. General requirements include:

• Ecuadorian nationality and a minimum height of 1.68 m for men and 1.57 m for women, barefoot.
• Domicile or residence in the Guayaquil canton during the last five years.
• High school diploma and a minimum score of 750 points on the higher education entrance exam.
• Three certificates of honorability and a certificate of no criminal record.

The preselection comprises psychological, medical, and physical tests (endurance, sit-ups, speed, pull-ups, and swimming), academic tests (mathematics, language, social studies, English, computer science, and general culture), and a personal interview, with a minimum score of 70 out of 100 required to proceed.

Promotions, ratings, and termination

Promotion is granted grade by grade and requires a vacancy for the management level and the rank of Sub-inspector. The rating is quantified out of 100 points and organized into lists: Outstanding (90 to 100), Very Good (80 to 89.99), Fair (70 to 79.99), Deficient (60 to 69.99), and Insufficient (0 to 59.99). The Ratings and Promotions Commission is composed of the Mayor or their delegate, the highest authority of the EPMTMG, EP, the Director of Human Talent, and the Director of Traffic Control.

Anyone who does not pass the promotion course will have a second and final opportunity; if they fail to overcome it, they will be dismissed. Anyone who is not promoted in two consecutive merit and opposition competitions will be terminated from the institution.

Validity and transitory provisions

The EPMTMG, EP is authorized to issue internal instructions, protocols, and manuals, and may fill Sub-inspector and management level positions through free appointment and removal or service commissions, on an exceptional and temporary basis. Within thirty days, its Board of Directors must approve the Functional Organic Statute of the Civil Traffic Agents Corps.

The ordinance repeals all provisions of equal or lower hierarchy that oppose it and orders semi-annual reporting to the National Agency for Regulation and Control of Land Transport, Traffic and Road Safety on the progress of the Career Plan.

The regulation orders for the first time the trajectory of thousands of traffic control servants in Guayaquil, with clear rules on merit, training, and permanence, and establishes express grounds for dismissal that will mark the management of municipal personnel in the coming years.

Source: Official Registry Special Edition No. 1656, Friday, September 18, 2026, Section I (Decentralized Autonomous Governments – Municipal Ordinances), pág. 2 (official reference: Special Edition No. 1656).