On Wednesday, March 4th following the advice from Tuna Kuyucu, Jyra and I rode the BRT during the morning rush hour. We left the hotel at 8:23am and headed for the Sirkeci tram station. Only two minutes after arriving we boarded the blue line and made our way to the end of the line to catch the funicular up to the green line. The transfer was easy and the ride up to Taksim quick. At the station we had a long, underground walk across moving walkways, up and down escalators and through many corridors. The station was well trafficked with people dressed for work. Reflecting the busy-ness, the green line was crowded but we only had two stops to go. Finally at the Sisli-Mecidiyekoy station we found the Metrobus (BRT). The station was well marked and crowded.
We boarded a bus almost immediately and prepared for what we thought was going to be a long ride of standing. Instead, despite the fact that our bus was crowded, we realized we were opposite of morning commute traffic as we headed down to the Zeytinburnu station still on the European side. The bus ran in its own lane in the middle of the highway and we could see the traffic piling up in the direction opposite ours and the buses on the other side of the station looked uncomfortably crowded. We were surprised it only took us twenty-five minutes to go the twelve stops to Zeytinburnu. When running the numbers, however, this is averaging between 22mph and 43mph (with the latter assuming a minute was spent at each stop; the time varied depending on the crowdedness at the station). Thus, when going the direction opposite traffic, the BRT did not make sense as an option unless one was without a car. But, if traveling towards the Asian side where there was stop and go traffic on the highway, then perhaps the BRT, even with frequent stops, would be faster, albeit more uncomfortable.
After getting off the bus we stood at the top of the long pedestrian bridge above the highway. I noticed that the buses traveled in packs of up to ten buses (each with two sections) and came frequently. With this, it was easy to see how the system reached its impressive capacity. All in all the trip from Sirkeci to Zeytinburnu took an hour and cost 8.50TL – neither ideal for everyday. I plan to research further what kind of payment options the system has. One positive of paying at least was that despite changing between different modes of transportation the same card worked at all turnstiles. Additional good features of the system included announcements in both English and Turkish, real time information at the funicular (the rest seem to come so often it is probably not necessary to have it), electronic maps of the routes on the vehicles, and ample and easy to follow signage when switching between modes (easy integration). Unfortunately, the one complaint about the system that did turn out to be true was the poor placement of the station in the neighborhood and the long walk through nothing that it took to get us to an actual destination of sorts. In conclusion I was pleasantly surprised with the trip and although it may not be sufficient to solve the city’s transportation problems, it at least alleviates some and is a promising start.
