More buses to solve traffic jams in Istanbul

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

As traffic chaos continues in Istanbul due to construction on bridges, the mayor of Istanbul has announced they will put 100 extra municipal buses into service to solve the problem.

“We will put 100 more buses into the network on Friday. We have been making serious investments. We have a goal of reaching 3,000 buses. We aim to fix the traffic congestion by increasing the number of buses. Subway train construction is also continuing,” he said.

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Kadir Topbaş said they were forced to be supportive since the Directorate General for Highways began construction on two important bridges in Istanbul, the Fatih Sultan Mehmet (FSM) Bridge and the Haliç Bridge on June 18.

Two of the eight lanes on the FSM Bridge will be closed to traffic until Sept. 17 for roadwork while two of the lanes on the Haliç Bridge over the Golden Horn will also undergo construction work.

The closures have caused long delays, and traffic has almost been at a standstill in some locations.

Topbaş suggested Istanbul residents use ferries efficiently to stop the traffic jam problems.

Meanhile, Gürsel Tekin from the Republican People’s Party criticized the roadwork in Istanbul and said the real solution to the problem lies in building railways.

“They have botoxed Istanbul. You cannot solve the problem of traffic with bridges, you need to build a rail system,” he said.