The BRT standard makes no sense. It places too much emphasis on little quirks like fare payment and not enough on actual bus lanes and grade separation
In my opinion, on top of the focus on quirks the standard honestly places too much weight on continuous bus lanes and grade separation. On most routes you don’t need 100% continuous bus lanes. You need bus lanes where buses could get stuck in traffic and priority at traffic lights. Basically, you need enough infrastructure to run a frequent and reliable service. Improvements can be made over time, when necessary. If you have enough traffic to warrant an entirely dedicated corridor and you have the space to build it, why are you building it for busses in the first place? Running a good service with busses is expensive, the one big advantage is the flexibility of not needing dedicated infrastructure everywhere.
To understand the BRT system in Istanbul you need to actually know what it has replaced. When it was conceived as an idea, there were only 3-4 metro lines which were much shorter than what they are today. All of the north-south commutes heavily relied on interchanges after commuting on the E5 highway with another bus route. Couple this with the lack of alternate routes due to the city's geography and the much needed west-east transit you have a massive bus fleet that is extremely inefficient. It was practically impossible to travel among Europe and Asia without ferries because you'd need to drop off at very particular places and commute through traffic. The transit authority then decided to *remove* most of these bus lines (west-east ones mostly) or limit their service (north-south ones) in favor of having a dedicated bus lane that combines many routes as a single line, the BRT. It was a very practical solution because it was slightly easier to pull off and it paid back in convenience and profits very quickly. Currently it is planned to be replaced or supplemented by metro lines and M34 which is an equivalent of the Elizabeth line in London.
T3 trams were originally built in the former East Germany/GDR to be more specific! They were built by two different builders and acquired from two different systems from East Germany. And they're not the only remnant of the former East Germany in the Middle East! A pretty mind-blowing fact....the Burj Khalifa was built using recycled 35,000 tonnes of steel from the PALAST DER REPUBLIK! The Palast der Republik was the showcase center of the DDR in East Berlin. Besides parliament, it also had restaurants, a performing arts center, galleries, a bowling alley, and a post office! The Palast was demolished in the 2000s to rebuild the old Stadtschloss. So by visiting the Burj...you're also visiting the Palast. Those Turkish ice cream men are able to troll people so easily because Turkish ice cream is sticky and doesn't melt! Dondurma (literally means frozen) has the thickening agents salep, a flour made from the root of the early purple orchid, and mastic, a resin that imparts chewiness. It is believed to originate from the city and region of Kahramanmaraş, and hence is also known as Maraş ice cream. The city has been producing its famous dessert for hundreds of years.
and btw begging is actually illegal in public transports but idk how istanbul authorities can prevent them… They’re trying to use Turkish people’s warm and kind hearts :( rn i’m writing this from Marmaray. I loved your video.❤
It's a FAFO situation. Tourists somehow can't stay away from those scammers even if you tell them thousand times that their ice cream is shit, overpriced and never preferred by locals.
The airport being covered in so many plants may have to do with the fact they destroyed a state-owned forest for it, so they did all that to make up for it! Istanbul has a United Nations of rolling stock with the different nations they're from! The tilework at Şişhane and Yenikapı is incredible! Just as wonderful as the mosaics on the Pyongyang Metro. Funiculaire du Havre in Le Havre is also rubber-tired....the French do love their rubber tires! It first operated with unreliable steam coaches before switching to electric in 1911. Le Havre's funicular originally opened in 1890, but like eighty percent of the city, the funicular was destroyed during the numerous WWII air raids, so they had to rebuild it from scratch. The unique tower you saw at 14:11 is the Çamlıca Tower, a telecommunications tower. It has a total height of 587 meters (1,926 ft) above sea level and its design was chosen by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality began the Çamlıca Hill TV Radio Tower Idea Project in 2011. Construction started in late 2016 and finished four years later in September 2020. It was inaugurated in May 2021.
I was so excited for this video. Istanbul is one of the top transit systems I want to visit myself! There's so much to do there. I'm so glad you included the station on the bridge. An exciting development is the future opening of Tram T6. When Marmaray opened, the old commuter rail line to the European terminal was closed. It's being converted to a tram, which I believe will be opening soon.
2:00 The metro in Naples has a similar situation in Garibaldi, the connection to Stazione Centrale. You have to walk through an open-air mall to get to the entrance, and then there are so many crisscrossing escalators!
A heritage tram that runs in bus lanes. Reminds me of San Francisco. That's so cool they've got those running. Most European transit agencies have a little fleet, but they only bring them out for special occasions.
The M11 line is actually incomplete, the trains may look like fully automated but it's currently not even running on ATO, it is manually driven and the platform screen doors don't even work in sync with the doors on the train. The driver presses two seperate buttons to open the doors. The Ministry of Transport is claiming that the signalling system is GoA 4 capable but in order to rush the opening of the line before the elections, they opened the line without even ATO, there have been many times that driver overshoot the platform screen doors.
@@ClassyWhale Istanbul had trolleybuses from the 60s to the 80s. Ankara and Izmir in Turkey also had Trolleybus lines but don't anymore. The smaller city of Malatya has an active Trolleybus service under the name Trambüs.
@@NATO4623 fun fact: one of the transit authorities for Istanbul (there are multiple, yes) stands for Istanbul Driver Licensing, Trams and Trolleybuses. Currently it only handles buses and heritage tram lines.
Currently Istanbul has got under construction 400km of new underground Metro lines being constructed,the new Airport metro line last station Gayrettepe will open up to public 19 December 2023 it’s a very modern line the Rxtension to that line Halkali will open end of 2024
I've been on that funicular in Istanbul but I can't remember what it's wheels were made of if indeed I saw them as it's in a tunnel!I liked the ferries and when I was there at least 15 odd years back there was no tunnel twixt Europe and Asia so ferry and bus were the only forms of public transport to get from Europe to Asia.
I'm glad it's not just me who found Istanbul's transport to be a bit of a mess, albeit a fascinating and exciting one. It feels like there's a story there that I'm missing the details of. (Also, it's amazing how long the walks are between metro lines, and how long you spend underground even when going up loads of escalators.)
It is not that bad or would not be called “mess” when you get used to it. Actually, funny to be able tp get in to metro and next to a ferry. Joking aside, It is just the result of the geography of the city, also the historical heritage of the city which restricts to built anything on it. First of all, Istanbul is hilly here and there a lot. Secondly, the historical areas is not easy to put underground systems. And lastly, huge population: 1/4 of the country lives in Istanbul. Officials constantly need new solutions to carry that population per day throughout the city😂
You are pointing out a planning oversight/disaster at the Istanbul Airport. The metro station is ~300m away from the terminal building. This is extremely inconvenient, and just shows how cars, cabs and buses are still pampered by the government over rail access. The size of the metro station however is justified, as it plays double duty as the future high speed rail station for Turkiye's YHT trains, that will eventually connect the airport to the rest of the country.
even though the planning of the airport itself is a disaster at least one thing I am happy about is rail prioritization, newer transit projects are almost always planned around trains
Istanbul should simply kept the old tram lines and then modernized them just like Philadelphia Boston and San Francisco did from the 1980s-present. Really great video and for the Istanbul Railway tunnel it has doors on both sides those are closed when needed. preventing what happened to the Northeast Corridor Montague Street Cranbery St and 14th St tunnels during Hurricane Sandy which causes them to flood
14:32 The metrobus is insanely bad to go on, because they have their own lanes the drivers of the metrobuses go absolutely wild speeding up like there's no tomorrow. everytime i've been on its like a life or death battle between you and the SPEED
This video inspired me to take some transit in Turkey next time I'm there if I'm ever in Istanbul again. Also, general question for you, can be answered here or in a future Q&A video if you do one of those: As a college (Grad? I forget) student, and someone who does YT, as well as mixing your love of transit in with your concentration/major/whatever they call it now, how and when do you find time to do these transit trips / trip reports / etc? Do you have any sort of what-some-folks-will-call traditional job (avoiding using the world 'real' here on purpose) that you have to take time off for for these trips along with school? Or is it just school at the moment you're focusing on mainly aside from your videos?
The Airport Metro line is weird simply because it's not really an Istanbul Metro line - it's actually a TCDD (state owned railway) line. That's why it uses the big red U instead of the Istanbul Metro logo. It'll be used by the high speed railway to Sabiha Gokcen airport in the future. Oh yeah, that viaduct right outside of the Kagithane M11 stop? That's for the M7 to Sisli (connects to the M2 there). The M7 is supposed to connect to Besitkas (where the Naval Museum and the ferryboats are) and then to the T1 Terminal in Kabatas...except Istanbul Metro dug up an ancient Byzantine harbor there so who knows when it'll be done (same issue with Yenikapi which was delayed for 2 years). Anyways, yeah, glad you enjoyed Istanbul's metro / tram / funicular network.
Yeah I went to İstanbul recently. You can buy a transit card from the machine and fill it with money then go anywhere you like. Busses,metro,marmaray,trams can be used with just one card and you can fill it basically in every metro,Marmaray station and small bufes. They also take credit card so it is easyto fill
@@exosproudmamabear558 You can also get a monthly 200 times use version for 250 liras, dirt cheap. For contrast the minimum wage is 17000 liras per month.
@@cagatayy1182 Actually this is a theory, the theory says that greeks used to say "Οι Τουρκοι ερχονται εις την πολη" (eng. "Oi tourkoi erxontai eis tin poli") and from this "eis tin poli" they took the name "istanbul". But the real name of this city is Constantinopole. Because it was, it is and it will be Greek FOREVER 🇬🇷
BRT rating and standards can be found on Wikipedia: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRT_Standard A system get points based on all kind of things, so yes, it could be reasonable. Thanks for the nice video!!
While that’s correct, the rating system has some specific priorities, making the results at least questionable in terms of comparing systems. A large part of the points is awarded for infrastructure aspects, which are certainly nice to have, but pays little notice to the actual service quality. You can get 8 points for dedicated lanes, 8 points for ticket machines, 7 points for level boarding and 3 points for having a lot of doors on your buses. Other points are awarded for even less relevant aspects like branding (3 points) and building bike lanes (2 points). You can lose 14 points for bad upkeep of the infrastructure, but only 5 points for running infrequent service and 2 point for not running night and weekend service. Basically, building shiny infrastructure, but running a bus every 20 minutes can give you a higher ranking then having more basic infrastructure with a bus every 30 seconds. When comparing different systems BRT gold, silver, bronze or not BRT at all doesn’t tell you a lot about the quality of the service.
The BRT standard makes no sense. It places too much emphasis on little quirks like fare payment and not enough on actual bus lanes and grade separation
In my opinion, on top of the focus on quirks the standard honestly places too much weight on continuous bus lanes and grade separation. On most routes you don’t need 100% continuous bus lanes. You need bus lanes where buses could get stuck in traffic and priority at traffic lights. Basically, you need enough infrastructure to run a frequent and reliable service. Improvements can be made over time, when necessary.
If you have enough traffic to warrant an entirely dedicated corridor and you have the space to build it, why are you building it for busses in the first place? Running a good service with busses is expensive, the one big advantage is the flexibility of not needing dedicated infrastructure everywhere.
To understand the BRT system in Istanbul you need to actually know what it has replaced. When it was conceived as an idea, there were only 3-4 metro lines which were much shorter than what they are today. All of the north-south commutes heavily relied on interchanges after commuting on the E5 highway with another bus route. Couple this with the lack of alternate routes due to the city's geography and the much needed west-east transit you have a massive bus fleet that is extremely inefficient. It was practically impossible to travel among Europe and Asia without ferries because you'd need to drop off at very particular places and commute through traffic. The transit authority then decided to *remove* most of these bus lines (west-east ones mostly) or limit their service (north-south ones) in favor of having a dedicated bus lane that combines many routes as a single line, the BRT. It was a very practical solution because it was slightly easier to pull off and it paid back in convenience and profits very quickly.
Currently it is planned to be replaced or supplemented by metro lines and M34 which is an equivalent of the Elizabeth line in London.
@@juxyper I was not talking about Istanbul I was talking about the BRT standard, which is an American document.
@@OntarioTrafficMan oh I see, my bad. Thought you were talking about Istanbul's BRT standards 😅
T3 trams were originally built in the former East Germany/GDR to be more specific! They were built by two different builders and acquired from two different systems from East Germany. And they're not the only remnant of the former East Germany in the Middle East! A pretty mind-blowing fact....the Burj Khalifa was built using recycled 35,000 tonnes of steel from the PALAST DER REPUBLIK! The Palast der Republik was the showcase center of the DDR in East Berlin. Besides parliament, it also had restaurants, a performing arts center, galleries, a bowling alley, and a post office! The Palast was demolished in the 2000s to rebuild the old Stadtschloss. So by visiting the Burj...you're also visiting the Palast.
Those Turkish ice cream men are able to troll people so easily because Turkish ice cream is sticky and doesn't melt! Dondurma (literally means frozen) has the thickening agents salep, a flour made from the root of the early purple orchid, and mastic, a resin that imparts chewiness. It is believed to originate from the city and region of Kahramanmaraş, and hence is also known as Maraş ice cream. The city has been producing its famous dessert for hundreds of years.
Jesus Christ, as a Turk, everything is great in this video but 8$ FOR THAT TINY ICE CREAM??? DAMN… They’re not even the best ice creams :(
Ikr???
and btw begging is actually illegal in public transports but idk how istanbul authorities can prevent them… They’re trying to use Turkish people’s warm and kind hearts :( rn i’m writing this from Marmaray. I loved your video.❤
It's a FAFO situation. Tourists somehow can't stay away from those scammers even if you tell them thousand times that their ice cream is shit, overpriced and never preferred by locals.
The airport being covered in so many plants may have to do with the fact they destroyed a state-owned forest for it, so they did all that to make up for it! Istanbul has a United Nations of rolling stock with the different nations they're from! The tilework at Şişhane and Yenikapı is incredible! Just as wonderful as the mosaics on the Pyongyang Metro. Funiculaire du Havre in Le Havre is also rubber-tired....the French do love their rubber tires! It first operated with unreliable steam coaches before switching to electric in 1911. Le Havre's funicular originally opened in 1890, but like eighty percent of the city, the funicular was destroyed during the numerous WWII air raids, so they had to rebuild it from scratch.
The unique tower you saw at 14:11 is the Çamlıca Tower, a telecommunications tower. It has a total height of 587 meters (1,926 ft) above sea level and its design was chosen by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality began the Çamlıca Hill TV Radio Tower Idea Project in 2011. Construction started in late 2016 and finished four years later in September 2020. It was inaugurated in May 2021.
I was so excited for this video. Istanbul is one of the top transit systems I want to visit myself! There's so much to do there. I'm so glad you included the station on the bridge.
An exciting development is the future opening of Tram T6. When Marmaray opened, the old commuter rail line to the European terminal was closed. It's being converted to a tram, which I believe will be opening soon.
2:00 The metro in Naples has a similar situation in Garibaldi, the connection to Stazione Centrale. You have to walk through an open-air mall to get to the entrance, and then there are so many crisscrossing escalators!
A heritage tram that runs in bus lanes. Reminds me of San Francisco. That's so cool they've got those running. Most European transit agencies have a little fleet, but they only bring them out for special occasions.
Four continents in one day is mad - well done!
You packed a ton of transit in a short video. Thanks for sharing.
The M11 line is actually incomplete, the trains may look like fully automated but it's currently not even running on ATO, it is manually driven and the platform screen doors don't even work in sync with the doors on the train. The driver presses two seperate buttons to open the doors. The Ministry of Transport is claiming that the signalling system is GoA 4 capable but in order to rush the opening of the line before the elections, they opened the line without even ATO, there have been many times that driver overshoot the platform screen doors.
I know right we have trolley bus .trams and trolley trains ,regular trains light rail
There's a trolley bus?
I mean yeah I Heard trolley bus search it on google but not in Istanbul
@@ClassyWhalenot in Istanbul but in other counties there are trolley bus and I meant is all public transport in the world
@@ClassyWhale Istanbul had trolleybuses from the 60s to the 80s.
Ankara and Izmir in Turkey also had Trolleybus lines but don't anymore.
The smaller city of Malatya has an active Trolleybus service under the name Trambüs.
@@NATO4623 fun fact: one of the transit authorities for Istanbul (there are multiple, yes) stands for Istanbul Driver Licensing, Trams and Trolleybuses. Currently it only handles buses and heritage tram lines.
I love this city. The transit is still a bit disjointed, but it's getting a lot better!
Minneapolis also has Flexity Swifts!
Teshekular, doncha know
11:00 Marmaray did open in 2013 but it was awful for a long time till it shut down and came back in 2020-ish
Currently Istanbul has got under construction 400km of new underground Metro lines being constructed,the new Airport metro line last station Gayrettepe will open up to public 19 December 2023 it’s a very modern line the Rxtension to that line Halkali will open end of 2024
I've been on that funicular in Istanbul but I can't remember what it's wheels were made of if indeed I saw them as it's in a tunnel!I liked the ferries and when I was there at least 15 odd years back there was no tunnel twixt Europe and Asia so ferry and bus were the only forms of public transport to get from Europe to Asia.
it's so funny of them having a way more decorated and welcoming Cargo terminal station than the actual Passenger terminal
Good info and some mandatory tourist selfies, thanks!
We also have the flexity swift in the twin cities on the blue line but they usually connect three together
Cool video. My daughter got a melodica from my brother for Christmas last year. I feel your pain.
2:50 M11 is one of the most comfortable istanbul transit experiences but it is genuinely super weird
I was almost surprised to see the train pop open in the hotel lobby
I'm glad it's not just me who found Istanbul's transport to be a bit of a mess, albeit a fascinating and exciting one. It feels like there's a story there that I'm missing the details of.
(Also, it's amazing how long the walks are between metro lines, and how long you spend underground even when going up loads of escalators.)
It is not that bad or would not be called “mess” when you get used to it. Actually, funny to be able tp get in to metro and next to a ferry. Joking aside, It is just the result of the geography of the city, also the historical heritage of the city which restricts to built anything on it. First of all, Istanbul is hilly here and there a lot. Secondly, the historical areas is not easy to put underground systems. And lastly, huge population: 1/4 of the country lives in Istanbul. Officials constantly need new solutions to carry that population per day throughout the city😂
Caleb actually doing research
amazing video
Thanks!
using some of the ice cream man's own tricks on him is a powerful move
Great Video Enjoyed It😊
Reconsidering life choices. When I have a five hour layover, I ... take a nap? Eat some ice cream?
I mean I still had ice cream...
I have 9 hours layover in Istanbul next month I plan to go out and explore
Great stuff. 🤩
You were pretty lucky with the T1 based on the time of day because its very overcrowded
I was really impressed with T1, it was always packed when i rode and it came like every 2 mins
You are pointing out a planning oversight/disaster at the Istanbul Airport. The metro station is ~300m away from the terminal building. This is extremely inconvenient, and just shows how cars, cabs and buses are still pampered by the government over rail access.
The size of the metro station however is justified, as it plays double duty as the future high speed rail station for Turkiye's YHT trains, that will eventually connect the airport to the rest of the country.
even though the planning of the airport itself is a disaster at least one thing I am happy about is rail prioritization, newer transit projects are almost always planned around trains
bro sold his soul for that ice cream
Damn that map though. I was surprised. That looks as impressive as the New York metro map.
Istanbul should simply kept the old tram lines and then modernized them just like Philadelphia Boston and San Francisco did from the 1980s-present. Really great video and for the Istanbul Railway tunnel it has doors on both sides those are closed when needed. preventing what happened to the Northeast Corridor Montague Street Cranbery St and 14th St tunnels during Hurricane Sandy which causes them to flood
11:36 seeing this station filmed feels like a fever dream, im here everyday twice a day
Just from the thumbnail it already seems to be a lot
Bro got robbed with that ice cream
14:32 The metrobus is insanely bad to go on, because they have their own lanes the drivers of the metrobuses go absolutely wild speeding up like there's no tomorrow. everytime i've been on its like a life or death battle between you and the SPEED
This video inspired me to take some transit in Turkey next time I'm there if I'm ever in Istanbul again.
Also, general question for you, can be answered here or in a future Q&A video if you do one of those:
As a college (Grad? I forget) student, and someone who does YT, as well as mixing your love of transit in with your concentration/major/whatever they call it now, how and when do you find time to do these transit trips / trip reports / etc? Do you have any sort of what-some-folks-will-call traditional job (avoiding using the world 'real' here on purpose) that you have to take time off for for these trips along with school? Or is it just school at the moment you're focusing on mainly aside from your videos?
How many 50s did you give to that ice cream??? Even one 50 lira banknote would be enough for that in anywhere
It was 200 lira, or 8 bucks 😅
The Airport Metro line is weird simply because it's not really an Istanbul Metro line - it's actually a TCDD (state owned railway) line. That's why it uses the big red U instead of the Istanbul Metro logo. It'll be used by the high speed railway to Sabiha Gokcen airport in the future. Oh yeah, that viaduct right outside of the Kagithane M11 stop? That's for the M7 to Sisli (connects to the M2 there). The M7 is supposed to connect to Besitkas (where the Naval Museum and the ferryboats are) and then to the T1 Terminal in Kabatas...except Istanbul Metro dug up an ancient Byzantine harbor there so who knows when it'll be done (same issue with Yenikapi which was delayed for 2 years). Anyways, yeah, glad you enjoyed Istanbul's metro / tram / funicular network.
Wow, Giant Eagle is really expanding if they're in Beyoğlu.
how did you donall that in five hours
idk honestly
Amazing. Does the system offer a day pass that works on all lines?
Yeah I went to İstanbul recently. You can buy a transit card from the machine and fill it with money then go anywhere you like. Busses,metro,marmaray,trams can be used with just one card and you can fill it basically in every metro,Marmaray station and small bufes. They also take credit card so it is easyto fill
@@exosproudmamabear558 You can also get a monthly 200 times use version for 250 liras, dirt cheap. For contrast the minimum wage is 17000 liras per month.
Ministry of transportation didn't think about metro station while building the new airport.
you paid wayyyyy toooo much for that ice cream
Why did you get off from T3 so early? You could've been there for the whole loop and I promise you it's worth it.
I had a plane to catch to meet my girlfriends parents... probably more important 😂
@@ClassyWhale Oohh so nice I hope it went well!
When you have a city with 20m people in it you need to have a good public transportation system.
Bruh I think it was designed in a such a way that you are expected to use the elevator
8$ man you got scammed real good😂
This city is not named Istanbul its named Constantinopole.🇬🇷🇬🇷
Nah, It's called Istanbul. Maybe try again later?
It was
The name "Istanbul" is also from Greek, genius
@@cagatayy1182 Actually this is a theory, the theory says that greeks used to say "Οι Τουρκοι ερχονται εις την πολη" (eng. "Oi tourkoi erxontai eis tin poli") and from this "eis tin poli" they took the name "istanbul". But the real name of this city is Constantinopole. Because it was, it is and it will be Greek FOREVER 🇬🇷
Why did you take every opportunity to talk bad about something
@@Duran22_ I don't do that
half in Europe ?? This is a joke right? Only the stolen part from the Greeks is in Europe, Constantinopel and Smyrni.
conquest, not stolen
BRT rating and standards can be found on Wikipedia:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRT_Standard
A system get points based on all kind of things, so yes, it could be reasonable.
Thanks for the nice video!!
While that’s correct, the rating system has some specific priorities, making the results at least questionable in terms of comparing systems. A large part of the points is awarded for infrastructure aspects, which are certainly nice to have, but pays little notice to the actual service quality.
You can get 8 points for dedicated lanes, 8 points for ticket machines, 7 points for level boarding and 3 points for having a lot of doors on your buses. Other points are awarded for even less relevant aspects like branding (3 points) and building bike lanes (2 points). You can lose 14 points for bad upkeep of the infrastructure, but only 5 points for running infrequent service and 2 point for not running night and weekend service.
Basically, building shiny infrastructure, but running a bus every 20 minutes can give you a higher ranking then having more basic infrastructure with a bus every 30 seconds. When comparing different systems BRT gold, silver, bronze or not BRT at all doesn’t tell you a lot about the quality of the service.