Hotels Istanbul

The public transport system is improving, with a new line connecting Taksim and the northern suburbs and work under way to extend the single-line metro out as far as the airport. Single-journey metro tickets cost $0.40 from a counter ( gise ) at station entrances. There are two kinds of buses serving the same routes, both of which come in a confusing array of colours. The first is a private service, Halk Otobus, for which you pay the conductor on entry ($0.40). More common are the municipality buses (marked IETT), for which you have to buy tickets ($0.40) in advance from bus stations, newspaper kiosks or fast-food booths, or at a small mark-up from touts; some longer routes, usually served by double-deckers, require two advance tickets (look for the sign iki bilet geçerlidir ). Tickets should be deposited next to the driver on boarding. There are route maps at main bus stops. The European side has two tram lines, one running from Eminönü through Sultanahmet to Topkapi and outlying suburbs, the other running along Istiklâl Caddesi from Beyoglu to Taksim using antique trams; buy tickets ($0.40) from a booth before you enter the platform. There's also a municipal train network, consisting of two lines running along the Marmara shore - west from Sirkeci station on the European side, and east from Haydarpasa on the Asian. Journeys cost the same as for buses; on the European side you buy a token to let you through the turnstile onto the platform, while on the Asian side you buy a ticket. There are also dolmuses or shared taxis (usually specially designed minibuses). They have their point of departure and destination displayed somewhere about the windscreen, and you can get on and off wherever you want en route: flag them down as you would a taxi. Ferries run between Eminönü and Karaköy on the European side, and Üsküdar, Kadiköy and Haydarpasa in Asia; dockside kiosks sell a small jeton ($1) for the journey.

The buses run daily about 448,000 km on around 468 lines with 7,889 bus-stops. 435 million people a year were transported in 2003, making a share of 14,2% of all the transportation in Istanbul

Istambul is served by two underground funicular railways, of very different ages and styles.
The older of these line is the Tünel. This line is the oldest underground metro line in continental Europe, and the second in the world after London (debatably third in the world, counting Brooklyn, New York's abandoned Atlantic Avenue Tunnel). The Tünel is 573 m long by an altitude difference of 60 m without any intermediate stations between Karaköy and Tünel Square. It has been continuously in service since 1875. Two trains run on a single rail every 3.5 minutes and, a trip takes 1.5 minutes. 15,000 people are being transported daily.

Light rail Light metro
It is a LRT system opened on September 3, 1989 between Aksaray and Kartaltepe. The line was further developed step by step and reached Atatürk Airport on December 20, 2002. There are 18 stations, including 6 underground and 3 viaduct stations, on the line of 19.3 km length. The line is totally segregated from other traffic without level crossings and runs underground for 4.4 km. 37 two-car sets transport 200,000 passengers a day. The investment cost US$ 550 million.

Ferryboat

Traditional Istanbul ferry cruising between the Princes Islands.Ferryboats sail on 15 lines serving 27 seaports on the shores of Bosphorus and Sea of Marmara. The 20 old-fashioned ferryboats carry today 61 million passengers yearly. In the 1980’s 150 million people were transported. For modernization purposes, the Maritime Co. was overhanded in 2005 to İDO, which operates the sea buses in Istanbul.