For
a city of 12-17 million people, Istanbul is surprisingly easy to navigate
without a car. I'm infinitely grateful I don't have to drive in this place. The
traffic snarls on the major roadways many hours a day, but its not for lack of
providing other public options. Public transportation here is damn good.
Diverse options. Several public train lines, tramlines, bus systems, ferry
boats- all of which you can use with the same rechargeable transportation card.
Super easy! There are also a couple of different privately-run bus options, the
mini-bus & the Dolmuş, which are dirt cheap and take cash. I don’t really
ever see anyone on bicycles, but people walk everywhere. There are taxis, and
they always seem busy, but I can barely count on one hand how many times I’ve
taken a taxi here since January.
One
of the bus systems is called the Metrobus and it runs on one of the major
highways between the airport and Kadikoy, across the Bosphorous Straight on the
Asian side. I love the Metrobus because it has its own lanes in the middle of
the highway so it doesn’t have to fight traffic. I took it a lot when I was
living in Bahcelievler because the stop was right in the middle of the
pedestrian bridge near my house. It was a relatively quick trip into to Taksim
or over to visit Umit in Kadikoy. And super cheap- like 2 Lira. I don’t take it
much anymore because my apartment is pretty far from the closest stop. Being that
this city is so densely populated, inevitably you end up crammed with what
feels like about a million other people on all of these busses, trains, trams,
etc. And its only getting more crowded now that tourist season is here.
There
are a few things that Turkish people are famous for (well, more than a few), that
seem exacerbated by close quarters on public transit: 1) pushiness and a general lack of spatial
awareness. I noticed this for my first time when I was in Greece last summer
actually. There is just an entirely different concept of personal space over
here, meaning, it really doesn’t exist. The only rule is that there are no
rules. This goes for standing in line, walking on sidewalks, walking in overly
crowded spaces… It is an accepted fact that you don’t really wait in line.
Anywhere. You push your way to the front- along with everyone else. In most
American cities I’ve been to, when walking in crowded places, there is a
certain level of flow and spatial awareness. In Turkey? Not so much. One of my
coworkers calls it Istanbull-dozing. Totally accurate. 2) STARING! Oh. My. God.
The staring. Especially as a woman. Especially as a foreign woman. 3) Body
odor. I don’t know why, but, at the risk of overgeneralizing, Turkish folks don’t
utilize the benefits of deodorant. I noticed this with some of my students in
the winter. Powerful stuff, I tell ya…. Of course, the weather is getting much
warmer now, and much more humid. And the public transits much more crowded. So……you
can probably do the math. Ripe. Potent. Palpable.
All
of that being said, there is a TV advertisement for the Metrobus that I want to
share with you. I’m only sharing the actual advertisement because I
reallllllllly want to share the spoof of the ad with you, which shows how it
actually feels on the bus. It features the three things I just mentioned. Enjoy!
The Original Ad (watch this one first, or the 2nd one won't be as funny):
The Spoof:
