Post by londonstuff on Sept 1, 2014 22:51:32 GMT
Warning - long post
I'm just back from a week in Istanbul, somewhere I've never been before. I expected mosques, tiles, hills and the Bosphorus but didn't quite expect the really rather integrated, and in many ways historical, transport system they've got there.
The most common way of travelling in my part of town, Sultanahmet, near the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya was the tram, which runs right across the city, across the Golden Horn (an inlet of the Bosphorus) and along the coast. It's permanently heaving, has five minute service frequencies and makes the Victoria line look like Chalfont - I've never been pushed into a tram so hard in all my life. Oh, and I got my backside felt. And no, it wasn't welcome.
The centre of Istanbul is exceedingly hilly in parts and to get to the main shopping street - Taksim Square and Istiklal, there are two funiculars (funiculae?), one of which is nearly 140 years old, the other fairly modern. The modern one count down every five minute departure to the nearest second and the old one, Tünel is wonderfully evocative. Both have one line, two cars at either end and a small passing place in the middle. Tünel is pure gold.
There are also a number of single line trams, one along Istiklal and another that I saw in the Asian part of Istanbul. This was a circular route around a sleepy coastal town of Kadiköy and seemingly a single car but was a delight. On a Saturday evening they even added a second car to the tram on Istiklal, with a Turkish band playing in the back, belting out Happy by Pharell Williams at one point
I only got onto the metro once - there are seemingly three or four lines. It seems relatively modern and frequent and certainly air conditioned. They were walk-through like S-stock and seemed fairly wide by comparison. The whole system had lots of nice touches with tiles and other artistic decoration.
A lot of the signage is also very similar to London. Lots of vowels in Turkish.
There was also the boat out from the European side of Istanbul to the Asian. All transport there costs 4 Turkish Lira (about a £1.20 or so) paid for with a paper smart card or a token known as a jeton. These open turnstiles at every tram, funicular or metro station and get you into the system though seemingly after you're in there's no way of proving you bought one - plenty of people I saw (and there was a lot of poverty) just walked along the road and onto the tram stop - they must allow for a percentage of wastage. That said there are entry and exit barriers so presumably they can get the number of exits, subtract the entrances and work out whether it's significant or not.
There are, however, no interchanges - if you want to go from the tram to the funicular, it's another 4TL. The boat rides, lasting about half an hour are also 4TL but require a metal heptagonal coin - perhaps due to different owners or some such quirk.
The jewel in the crown though, and a complete surprise, was Haydarpa?a station on the Asian side. That side was, frankly, pretty boring with not a lot to do, other than say "I've been to Asia." Having gone past the building on the boat (it's grand) and looking at a map when sheltering from the sun, we realised it was a train station. It was a bit of a schlep but as we approached we began to realise a complete lack of people and traffic.
Apparently this is due to a fire a few years ago but I certainly didn't see any evidence of it. It's a fabulous station where time has stood still, though still open with its own barber and restaurant and lots of feral cats. This was the terminal station and from here you could get to Aleppo and Baghdad - quite a sobering and pretty awesome thought. The station itself was absolutely magnificent, still beautifully maintained and full of lovely design features. Some of the trains were there too and there was evidence, à la South Ken station of filled in platforms. It even had a steam train outside.
All in all it's a fabulous city and a great transport network, most of which I was thoroughly taken aback by. No plug at all but there are some more photos and videos (which don't embed here) on my Flickr page that you're welcome to look at if you wish.
I'm just back from a week in Istanbul, somewhere I've never been before. I expected mosques, tiles, hills and the Bosphorus but didn't quite expect the really rather integrated, and in many ways historical, transport system they've got there.
The most common way of travelling in my part of town, Sultanahmet, near the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya was the tram, which runs right across the city, across the Golden Horn (an inlet of the Bosphorus) and along the coast. It's permanently heaving, has five minute service frequencies and makes the Victoria line look like Chalfont - I've never been pushed into a tram so hard in all my life. Oh, and I got my backside felt. And no, it wasn't welcome.
The centre of Istanbul is exceedingly hilly in parts and to get to the main shopping street - Taksim Square and Istiklal, there are two funiculars (funiculae?), one of which is nearly 140 years old, the other fairly modern. The modern one count down every five minute departure to the nearest second and the old one, Tünel is wonderfully evocative. Both have one line, two cars at either end and a small passing place in the middle. Tünel is pure gold.
There are also a number of single line trams, one along Istiklal and another that I saw in the Asian part of Istanbul. This was a circular route around a sleepy coastal town of Kadiköy and seemingly a single car but was a delight. On a Saturday evening they even added a second car to the tram on Istiklal, with a Turkish band playing in the back, belting out Happy by Pharell Williams at one point
I only got onto the metro once - there are seemingly three or four lines. It seems relatively modern and frequent and certainly air conditioned. They were walk-through like S-stock and seemed fairly wide by comparison. The whole system had lots of nice touches with tiles and other artistic decoration.
A lot of the signage is also very similar to London. Lots of vowels in Turkish.
There was also the boat out from the European side of Istanbul to the Asian. All transport there costs 4 Turkish Lira (about a £1.20 or so) paid for with a paper smart card or a token known as a jeton. These open turnstiles at every tram, funicular or metro station and get you into the system though seemingly after you're in there's no way of proving you bought one - plenty of people I saw (and there was a lot of poverty) just walked along the road and onto the tram stop - they must allow for a percentage of wastage. That said there are entry and exit barriers so presumably they can get the number of exits, subtract the entrances and work out whether it's significant or not.
There are, however, no interchanges - if you want to go from the tram to the funicular, it's another 4TL. The boat rides, lasting about half an hour are also 4TL but require a metal heptagonal coin - perhaps due to different owners or some such quirk.
The jewel in the crown though, and a complete surprise, was Haydarpa?a station on the Asian side. That side was, frankly, pretty boring with not a lot to do, other than say "I've been to Asia." Having gone past the building on the boat (it's grand) and looking at a map when sheltering from the sun, we realised it was a train station. It was a bit of a schlep but as we approached we began to realise a complete lack of people and traffic.
Apparently this is due to a fire a few years ago but I certainly didn't see any evidence of it. It's a fabulous station where time has stood still, though still open with its own barber and restaurant and lots of feral cats. This was the terminal station and from here you could get to Aleppo and Baghdad - quite a sobering and pretty awesome thought. The station itself was absolutely magnificent, still beautifully maintained and full of lovely design features. Some of the trains were there too and there was evidence, à la South Ken station of filled in platforms. It even had a steam train outside.
All in all it's a fabulous city and a great transport network, most of which I was thoroughly taken aback by. No plug at all but there are some more photos and videos (which don't embed here) on my Flickr page that you're welcome to look at if you wish.
