Istanbul bridge, road toll hiked

ANKARA

The General Directorate of Highways (KGM) has announced that tolls for roads operated by the authority and Istanbul’s July 15 Martyrs’ Bridge and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge have been hiked by 20 percent effectively on Oct. 7.

Toll prices need to be adjusted in line with the producers’ price inflation (PPI) each year in order to ensure the regular maintenance of roads and bridges, the authority said in a statement.

“However, despite the 33.64 percent increase in PPI last year, tolls have not been hiked over the past 21 months. It was inevitable to increase the tolls because of the rise in labor and other costs.”

A passenger car will be charged 3 Turkish Liras for the shortest trip. The motorists will pay a maximum 30 liras for their longest trip on the toll roads.

Passenger cars will be charged 10.5 liras for using the two bridges over the Bosphorus.

The July 15 Martyrs’ Bridge and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge together yielded around 268 million liras in January-August this year.

A total of 77.3 million vehicles used the bridges in the first eight months of the year.

Another 991 million liras were collected from the toll roads over the same period from 225 million vehicles.