Public transport in Istanbul
Public transport in Istanbul comprises a bus network, various rail systems, funiculars, and maritime services to serve the more than 15 million inhabitants of the city spread over an area of 5,712 km2.
Public road transport in Istanbul dates back to 30 August 1869, when a contract to build a tram system in the capital of the Ottoman Empire was signed.
With this agreement, Konstantin Krepano Efendi's "Société des Tramways de Constantinople" obtained the concession to operate public transportation for forty years.
In the first year, the horsecars transported 4.5 million people on the lines Azapkapı-Galata, Aksaray-Yedikule, Aksaray-Topkapı and Eminönü-Aksaray.
430 horses were used to draw the 45 carriages, including 15 summer-type and some double-deckers, on 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge track.
In 1912, the horse-drawn tram had to cease to operate for one year because the Ministry of Defence sent all the horses to the front during the Balkan War.
The tram began to run on the Anatolian part of Istanbul on 8 June 1928 between Üsküdar and Kısıklı.
The same time as the horsecar started to run, construction of the Tünel, a short funicular between Pera and Galata, began on 30 July 1871.
A commuter rail line was built on the European side of the city from Sirkeci to Hadımköy in 1872, which was followed in 1873 on the Anatolian part from Haydarpaşa Terminal to İzmit.
The ferry is one of the oldest means of transit in Istanbul, a city with two parts separated by the Bosphorus strait and surrounded by sea.
The ferry service began in 1853 with six paddle steamers built in the Robert White shipyard in England.
Several British and French companies operated all public transport in Istanbul until 16 June 1939,[2] the date of nationalization.
(Transport Inc.) was established to run the services of LRT (light rail transit) (since 1989), Metro (since 2000) and modern trams (since 1992) by the Municipality of Istanbul.
Finally the Airport (M1A) and Bağcılar (M1B) lines' eastern terminus was extended from Aksaray to this transfer center in 2014.
Following this date, electric trams were put in place and they were the main means for urban public transport until 1966.
Other cities around the world, e.g. Tunis and Buenos Aires, also understood that error, and like them, Istanbul also planned the return of the tramway.
Due to increasing popularity, they opened a modern tram system starting in 1992, also at European side.
The modern tram consists of lines T1, T4, T5 and T6, initially operated with 55 low-floor Bombardier Flexity Swift and 32 Alstom Citadis.
Today the line is single-track with a passing loop, electrically powered and runs on rubber tyres with rebuilt ex-RATP MP 55 vehicles.
[13] and connects the Seabus port and tram stop of Kabataş with the metro station at Taksim Square.
[16] The bus fleet has a total of 4,012[17][18] vehicles built by MAN, Ikarus, Mercedes-Benz, BMC,[19] Phileas, Otokar,[18] Temsa[18] and Güleryüz.
Şehir Hatları ferries sail on 32 lines serving 53 piers on the shores of the Bosphorus as well as the Princes' Islands.
The Şirket-i Hayriye, renamed Şehir Hatları in the early republican period, continued to operate the city's commuter ferries until 1937, when they under the direction of the state-owned Türkiye Denizcilik İşletmeleri (TDİ) (“Turkish Maritime Lines ”).
[29] The TDİ was largely privatized in the early 2000s and ownership of the Şehir Hatları was transferred to the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality in March 2006.
In 2017, the municipality established a system for musicians to play live music for passengers in the lower salons of most ferry lines.
[30] On 16 April 1987 the Municipality of Istanbul established a company to provide fast sea transport with catamaran-type high-speed ferries.
Today, the, now privately owned, İDO serves 29 terminals with a fleet of 28 catamarans, including six high-speed car ferries.
The average time that people spend commuting with public transit in Istanbul, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 91 min.
[31] Istanbul has an integrated electronic ticket system for bus, funiculars, LRT, metro, commuter trains, ferryboats and trams.
These official websites include timetables and maps Buses & Funicular Trains & Trams Ferry Services
