Bus companies welcome 12-day long Eid holiday

ISTANBUL

Bus companies have had to add extra bus routes for the upcoming Eid-al Adha since all the buses are booked full. Daily News Photo

Some 7.5 million Turkish people, around 10 percent of the country’s total population, will hit the road for the 12-day Eid al-Adha holiday, according to one of the country’s leading bus companies, Kamil Koç.

The company estimates that a total of 7.5 million bus passengers will travel during the 12-day holiday, with an average of 7,800 passengers traveling both ways on bus routes that exceed 100 kilometers each day during Eid al-Adha. Each bus carries roughly 80 passengers roundtrip and makes two daily trips, averaging 624,000 passengers per day.

Extra 2,000 bus routes

“This holiday we will add an extra 2,000 bus routes carrying an additional 750,000 passengers,” said Kamil Koç General Manager Kemal Erdoğan. He added that there would be 12,000 Kamil Koç buses departing from main stations in Istanbul, İzmir, Ankara and Bursa.

“We will also have a lot of travel from the Mediterranean and Aegean regions. The fact that the weather has been so nice is one of the main factors behind the business in these regions,” he added.

The president of the Turkey Bus Federation (TOFED), Mehmet Erdoğan, told Anatolia news agency that members of TOFED had arranged for 8,100 buses, which have already been filled and bus firms were trying to add extra routes for Nov. 1 and 2.

“During the Eid-al-Adha period, we will have more than 30,000 bus routes per day carrying 1.5 million passengers. Our buses are now 100 percent full, so we are adding extra buses,” he said, adding that the busiest days would be from Oct. 18 to 21. TOFED has calculated a shorter six-day travel period for the holiday.