Public Transport in Istanbul - History

History

Public road transport in Istanbul dates back to August 30, 1869, when a contract to build a tram system in the capital of the Ottoman Empire was signed. With this agreement, Konstantin Krepano Efendi’s "Société des Tramways de Constantinople" obtained the concession to operate public transportation for forty years. The inauguration of four lines of horse-driven trams was in 1871. In the first year, the horsecars transported 4.5 million people on the lines Azapkapi-Galata, Aksaray-Yedikule, Aksaray-Topkapı and Eminönü-Aksaray. More lines were added in the following years. 430 horses were used to draw the 45 carriages, including 15 summer-type and some double-deckers, on meter gauge track. In 1912, the horse-drawn tram had to cease to operate for one year because the Ministry of Defense sent all the horses to the front during the Balkan War. The tram network was electrified by overhead contact wire on February 2, 1914. The tram began to run on the Anatolian part of Istanbul on June 8, 1928 between Üsküdar and Kısıklı. By the 1950s, the length of the tram lines reached 130 km. The trams were on service on the European side of the city until August 12, 1961 and on the Asian side until November 14, 1966.

The same time as the horsecar started to run, construction of the Tünel, a short funicular between Pera and Galata, began on July 30, 1871. The funicular opened to service on December 5, 1874, the second oldest subway in the world after the London underground. In the beginning, only freight and livestock were transported. On January 17, 1875, after completing the test runs, the funicular was opened to the public. It is still in service.

A commuter rail line was built on the European side of the city from Sirkeci to Hadımköy in 1872, which was followed in 1873 on the Anatolian part from Haydarpaşa Terminal to İzmit.

The ferry is one of the oldest means of transit in İstanbul, a city with two parts separated by the Bosphorus strait and surrounded by sea. In 1837, British and Russian owned boats started transport on the Bosphorus. The İstanbul Maritime Company was established in 1851 by a decree of Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I. The ferry service began in 1853 with six paddle steamers built in the Robert White shipyard in England. The service was extended in 1859 to places around Golden Horn. After 1903 screw-driven steamboats were put in service. Until 1929 boats were imported; later on the ferries were built in the shipyards in Golden Horn. At its peak the fleet contained 40 boats. In 1867, the same company started vehicle transport across the Boğaziçi (Bosphorus) between Kabataş and Üsküdar with two ferries purchased from England, as the first scheduled ferry lines in the world. All ferry companies nationalized in 1945.

Bus transportation in İstanbul started in 1926 with four Renault-Scania buses between Beyazıt and Karaköy. The fleet grew up from 9 buses in 1942 to 16 in 1955 and to 525 buses in 1960, and then became the backbone of public transport in an ever-enlarging city.

Several British and French companies operated all public transport in İstanbul until June 16, 1939, the date of nationalization. The newly established company İETT (İstanbul Electric Tram and Tünel Company) took over from then on the task of public transport in İstanbul.

On May 27, 1961 trolleybuses were put in service first between Topkapı and Eminönü following the elimination of trams. However, they were taken out of service some time later because they also hindered the growing traffic in the narrow streets of the old city.

In 1988, a company called Ulaşım A.Ş. (Transport Inc.) was established to run the services of LRT (since 1989), Metro (since 2000) and Modern Trams (since 1992) by the Municipality of Istanbul. The company is still active and will be the operator of the new rail lines.