Biking in cities doesn’t have to be hazardous to your health. But in Istanbul, you must be extra careful. Besides traffic and air pollution – the usually problems faced by urban cyclists – Istanbul riders have to deal with flooded cycle paths, barbecues, trees, bushes, and garbage bins in cycle areas, and lack of bicycle parking.
But even with these problems there’s still reason to be excited about biking in Istanbul. Recently, Gizem Altin, a Turkish cycling advocate, organized Istanbul’s first ever symposium on urban cycling. In attendance was a representative from the city government who announced that Istanbul could have 101 km of dedicated bike lanes right away without any major structural changes, if the mayor were to give his support. The city official also talked about the city’s master plan for building 670 km of bike lanes. But alas, there is no time frame for such a project, an indication that it might never be implemented.
In the meantime, cycling in Istanbul continues to be an extreme sport. After the leap, check out the photo essay on biking in Istanbul by Murat Suyabatmaz, a Turkish cycling advocate who also attended the bike symposium. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s typical in Istanbul to be walking on an empty street, just enjoying the day, when out of the blue the shriek of a taxi’s horn shatters the peace and quite. It’s an annoying problem, these overzealous taxis that compete fiercely with one another for business, often swerving across multiple lanes of traffic just to pick up a rider.
However, soon pedestrians strolling the streets won’t have to deal with the unwanted and aggresive solicitations from taxis. That’s because the Istanbul Metropolitan Government has announced a new plan to centralize control of all taxis. The taxi’s will be placed under the control of a single company, which will equip them with GPS systems and relay a customer’s call to the taxi closest to that customer’s location. Read the rest of this entry »
Here is a fun videoclip about a situation that you would never like to be in: after having had lots of beans for lunch you naturally need a toilet and you attempt to go home to find one by braving Istanbul’s transport system!
I like the video a lot; the melody is nice, the lyrics are fun, and it provides a human touch to Istanbul’s traffic problems! The video truly represents what it’s like taking a taxi, standing in a bus like sardines in a tin, suffocating in a tram because the air conditioning doesn’t work (I myself have the opposite problem of freezing in tram with the AC blasting), and being snared in a traffic jam. If you’ve ever experienced (im)mobility in Istanbul, or, if you’ve been stuck in a taxi with a driver sucking down cigarettes, you’ll instantly sympathize with the guy in the video!
Check out what the singer “Yo” says and his message at the end!
Photo by Murat Suyabatmaz.
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