All posts tagged Transport in Turkey

  • February 18, 2016

    Public Transport Marketing has Failed Montreal and Istanbul Alike

    A lot of travel writing engages fairly safe themes such as “underneath our different exterior, we’re all basically the same,” “I connected with locals so deeply even though I only met them for a few hours or days,” and “look at this beautiful nature and how cheap the booze is. You too can live such a glamorous life, and set yourself apart from the rest of the sheep in wherever the hell it is that you even live. Yay.”

    None of these themes generally reflect my travel experiences, but today one of them does. “Underneath our different exterior,” I thought to myself as I bashed out this piece “we’re more similar than we realize.”

    “How?” you might ask, perhaps envisioning something slightly orientalist and condescending, a written navel-gazey contemplation on the fact that me and people whose reality of life I will never truly understand share the common experience of having to prepare food (or something).

    Nope. It’s – tada! – about how public transport marketing portrayals can fail to live up to reality across oceans, cultures, and time.

    Have a look at these YouTube videos. The first is 1970s commercial for the subway system in Montreal. The dancers sing “It’s nice in the subway. Everybody’s feeling gay and sunshiney. Our subway is the most beautiful in the world. It’s nice in the subway (and in the subway’s little brother – the bus). Long live the subway!”

    Some Montrealers took issue with this propagandistic picture of the public transit system, and create a parody entitled “Il fait chaud dans le métro” – It’s too hot in the subway – a tribute to the famously high temperatures of the Montreal underground.  The heavily paraphrased lyrics of this song? “It’s too hot in the subway. Everybody’s sweating from head to toes. The price of the monthly pass is as high as the temperature. Our subway’s going to be the hottest in the world for 50 years. It’s even hot in the flipping winter!”

    1970s Montreal marketers tried to present an idealized version of the subway in a bid to solicit more passengers. 40 years later and thousands of kilometers away, the directors of the IETT, the Istanbul public transport system, would do much the same with similar results.

    The IETT commercial is even more laughable than the Montreal one. While riding the Montreal metro is indeed a bit warm, being forced to ride the IETT might actually have inspired a 21st century Dante to write a sequel to the Inferno.*

    Have a look at the real commercial. The key words spoken by the slightly hypnotic voice are “safe, secure, comfortable, fast, good quality etc.” The IETT is not really any of these things (although I’m still thankful that it exists.)

    Then have a look at this parody, a remarkably faithful representation of what it’s really like to ride public transport in Istanbul. The only thing the comedian missed was the experience of being groped and not being able to move or slap the hand away because it’s too packed, that moment when you finally get a seat only to have somebody very elderly enter the bus at the next stop, or the second you suddenly realize that your hand is on a 55 year old man’s crotch, and has been there for three minutes (true story.) Oh, and what it feels like to miss your stop because it’s even more packed than in the parody and you can’t push through the people to get off.

    The takeaway of all this? If you visit either Montreal or Istanbul, slap on a few extra layers of deodorant and if in Istanbul, pay attention to the placement of your hands.

    *Just imagine, The Divine Quadrilogy Part II: Constantinople

    1 Comment / Canada, Turkey /

  • January 12, 2016

    #Sultanahmet

    Sultanahmet, a week before the attacks.

    Sultanahmet, a week before the attacks.

    There has been another terrorist attack in Istanbul, this time in the hyper-touristic area of Sultanahmet, site of the Hagia Sophia. So far ten are confirmed dead, 15 wounded. We don’t yet have reliable data about the identities of the victims, but it seems to be split between tourists and Turks.

    I was there in Sultahahmet, taking pictures in the snow, not more than a week ago. I could say, “It could easily have been me,” but I won’t because that’s facile and also . . . that’s the point of terrorism.

    The main differences between terrorism and war is that terrorism is waged with the intention to cultuvate fear, not casualties. I don’t wish to sound blasé. My heart goes out to the victims and their familites.

    But.

    We have to maintain some perspective.

    Turkey has a population of 75 million. In the past year, less than 200 people have been killed in terrorist attacks. That is 0.0002 percent of the population. On the other hand, 10,000 people die in traffic accidents every year in Turkey, according to the World Health Organization. That’s a whopping 0.01 percent of the population. If you are a tourist in Istanbul, your chances of dying at the hands of a drunk and unscrupulous dolmuş driver far outnumber the likelihood of death-by-terrorist-attack.

    The same is true in France. Deaths by bombing, despite the brutal Paris attacks, is still statistically very low.

    Why am I saying this? For a few reasons.

    The first reason is that these attacks have the potential to cripple the Turkish economy. This year, Turkey has already lost many of its Russian tourists – one of the largest tourist groups that used to come to Turkey. The Turkish economy is hugely dependent on tourism. And the Turkish economy is not an abstract thing. The Turkish economy is people feeding their families.

    The second reason is about values. People who live in fear act in fear. They make stupid decisions because they won’t look behind the curtain and face . . . statistics. In the case of both Turkey and France, this could mean voting for a government that promises security at the price of human rights or even at the price of other human lives. Furthermore, these governments will likely not even deliver the promised security. Judging from today’s events, the Turkish ruling party certainly hasn’t, despite winning a parliamentary majority in November.

    In fact, each time there is a terrorist attack, the AKP (the Turkish ruling party) imposes a broadcast ban on the Turkish people, leading me and many others to wonder what they are hiding. Are they afraid people will say that their government response to terrorism is ineffectual? Or that people will accuse them on capitalizing on it for their own political goals? Or that they will be reminded that they sold arms to ISIS? Do they just want to make people more afraid by restricting their knowledge?

    I don’t have clear answers to these questions but I do know what I would tell anybody engaging the issue of terrorism.

    Don’t be afraid. Terror is the point of the attacks, and the best way to fight terrorists is to not give them what they want.

    Me? I’m going back to Turkey in the summer, and the worst part of my trip will probably be the quality of the food on Air Canada.

    4 Comments / Turkey, Uncategorized /

  • September 1, 2014

    Turkish Travel Tips: Public Transport and the Humble Dolmuş

    The humble minibus, or dolmuş (dol-MOOSH), as it is known in Turkish is, for most tourists to Turkey, a gem hiding in plain sight.

    This is a dolmuş. They always have their destinations written on the front, but if you're going somewhere in between, just ask the driver.

    This is a dolmuş. They always have their destinations written on the front, but if you’re going somewhere in between, just ask the driver.

    If somebody put a gun to my head and said, “you have two minutes to give people one piece of advice for travelling to Turkey!”, I would tell them how to use a dolmuş.

    Public transit in Turkey is inexpensive and effective, at least compared to most cities in Canada. The country is fairly densely populated, and many people do not make enough money to own cars. Most tourists will be familiar with much of Turkey’s public transport equipment: taxis, buses, intercity buses, airplanes, subways, and even trams function the same way as they do in Western countries.

    But the dolmuş. Ah, the dolmuş. Ignored by the average tourist to Turkey who simply has no idea what on earth those things are, and how one might go about using them. Maligned by . . . nobody really because nobody knows what they are. Spit on by . . . ok, never mind.

    I had to do something about this lack of dolmuş-education, so without further ado, here is a crash course on dolmuş travel.

    A dolmuş is a large van that goes from one place to another on a set route. Depending on the destination, they may go as frequently as every ten minutes, or as infrequently as once per hour. They may start early in the morning, and end late at night, or they may just operate during the daytime.

    To get one, go to your nearest bus or dolmuş station, and look at the destinations listed on the fronts. You can also hail a passing dolmuş by flailing your hands in the air and trying to get the attention of the driver. The way most Turkish people do it is by raising their right arm in a Sex and the City style taxi hailing motion. Yelling “dolmuş!” and tottering around on stilettos is optional.

    This is the dolmuş station at Fahrettin Altay in Izmir. At some stations, including this one, the destinations are printed on signs, but usually you have to ask.

    This is the dolmuş terminal at Fahrettin Altay in Izmir. At some stations, including this one, the destinations are printed on signs, but usually you have to ask.

    When you hail a dolmuş, it will stop and the driver will open the doors. If he passes you and isn’t going too fast, yell. “Şoför bey! Durunuz!” (Chauffeur bay! Dur-oo-nooz.) Mr. Driver, stop! It doesn’t always work, but usually the other passengers or other people on the street will see you and alert the driver.

    The next step is to make sure the dolmuş is going to your destination. Do this by saying the name of the place you’re going. You can get fancier, but if you’re just a tourist, they’ll understand. If the driver says “Hah,” or “Evet,” you’re good to go. If he tuts or says “Hayir,” or “Yok,” then you’ve got the wrong one.

    After you’ve made sure that the dolmuş is going to your destination, you can hop into the typically body-odour scented interior. Often the doors will stay open as you speed along the highway, having hopefully settled yourself into a chair, though if it is already full by the time it picks you up, you’re going to have to stand. Try to hold on so you don’t fall out. You’ll look very cool. Like a local!

    After you get on, have a glance at the fare chart, and give some money at the driver. Even if he is driving, he will accept it and give you the right amount of change. If you cannot get to the front, just pass the money to the person in front of you, and he or she will pass it to the driver. Make sure you say your destination, otherwise the driver will say something to you in Turkish that you probably won’t understand, but which in all likelihood means “How many, and where are you going?”

    Then you can say, for example, “bir, otogara gidiyorum.” One. I’m going to the bus station. Cross your fingers that he hasn’t actually said, “I’m driving a one way route to the hairiest part of Satan’s ass-crack. Welcome aboard!”

    I have heard tell that, technically, dolmuşes are not supposed to carry more passengers than they have seats. I have never seen this enforced, but apparently in certain parts of cities, cops lurk in wait of dolmuş drivers who let this happen as though the arm of the law means nothing to them. When this happens, the driver will tell all the passengers to duck. Everybody who’s standing has to duck lower than the windows until the danger is past. If you notice others ducking don’t hesitate – duck with them! Don’t worry. You’re only disobeying the law, and in Turkey, nobody cares.

    Dolmuşes make it easy to go anywhere in Turkey more quickly than if you rely solely on inter-city bus travel, and are easy to use. Despite the body odour, it’s a treat to have access to effective public transport. Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to check for dolmuşes online, so if you are going anywhere a bit off the beaten track in Turkey, and you suspect it is only serviced by dolmuş from where you are, I would suggest consulting a Turkish person who lives in that area. If you’re worried about finding somebody who speaks English, ask at a hotel.

    Bang. You just saved yourself money you could have spent on a taxi, and you managed to experience Turkey like a local for one whole ride.

    No Comments / Uncategorized /