Transportation Problem in Istanbul

Transportation has taken an important role in human life. In the early ages, types of transportation were less than today. Thus, there was not any transportation problem in cities. On the other hand, when new transportation systems were developed for increasing population, some transportation problems occurred. These problems make daily life unbearable especially in metropolitan cities such as Istanbul. It can be said that recently, demand for using transportation systems have increased in Istanbul. There are some solutions to prevent these demands from becoming a disaster. The solution to the transportation problem in Istanbul is to increase the usage of railway, seaway and roadway systems.

The first important mission of solving Istanbul’s traffic problem is railway system. First of all, transportation capacity makes the railway system more useful. Primarily, it offers more railway cars. It is reported in the article “Train” that double-decker railcars are exerted for carrying more passengers by both long and short time journey of passenger trains (2008, “Passenger Trains” section). In the light of this example, it can be said that the more people are carried by trains, the less private cars occupy roads, which will decrease traffic jam. Moreover, railway system has also lower price. “It [the railway traffic] enables transportation of bigger quantity of goods on long or medium distances at relatively low costs” (“Advantages of Railway Traffic”, 2008, “Transportation Capacity and Price Condition” section). For this reason, lower price makes more people prefer the railway system. In brief, it can clearly be understood that transportation capacity of railway system has an important role to develop solution for traffic jam.

Apart from transportation capacity, speed is an effective feature of railway system. As an example, it departs from traffic. As it is explained in “Trains”, that the railway system is either down the highway or at the same level with the highway is an advantage and this enables them to avoid traffic (2008, “Commuter Trains” section, para. 3). This makes it clear that, the railway system has no relation with the traffic that makes it fast and attractive. Furthermore, railway system has also physical features which are about electronic component. As explained in “Train” (2008) French TGV is the fastest train that has ever tested reached a 574.8 km/h speed in 2007 (“High-speed Trains” section, para. 3). From the examples given above, it can be said that the electronic components makes the trains faster that is desirable for people. All in all, it can safely be said that another important feature of railway system is fast results in finding an effective for the traffic jam.

The second important mission of solving Istanbul’s traffic problem is seaway system. Secondly, fast moving transportation enhances the ratio of usage of the seaway system. The most significant property of traffic free transportation is that it makes the travelling time shorter. Since The Istanbul Ferry Lines (IDO) has increased its vehicle capacity, which reached to 9,600 vehicles per day, it provides the passengers to cross the other side of the city in eight minutes instead of one and a half hours. A ferryboat carries 600 passengers at once (Kocabıyık, 2008, ‘‘Ferryboats Reduce Bridge Traffic’’ section, para. 1, 2). As little number of ferryboats travel no traffic occurs at sea. These ferries carry great number of passengers and vehicles and it makes the travelling time shorter. In addition, sea transportation does not make you lose time by stopping at stations. A lot of people prefer sea taxis because travelling by sea taxis is comfortable, clean and a civilized way of transportation (‘‘Istanbul Curious About Sea Taxis’’, 2008, para. 1- 3 ). The reason people look why sea taxis is because they are a civilized way of transportation. Sea taxis do not stop at any station and take people directly to where they want to go. As a result, seaway transportation saves time because it is traffic free transportation and does not stop at stations.

Aside from being fast moving transportation, seaway transportation also has a huge capacity. For example, seaway transportation carries more people than transportation by personal cars. The number of passengers who used the seaway transportation was about 5.178.688 in 1994, this number increased to 6.761.809 in 1996. This was thought to be because of rational timetable planning. The number of passengers rose to 7 million in 1997 (IBB, 2008, ‘‘Increase in the Number of Passengers’’ section, para. 1). These numbers show us that seaway transportation has a large passenger capacity and its advantages make it more preferred every year. Additionally, seaway transportation has car carriage capacity. ‘‘As of today IDO oparates [sic.] 85 vessels and 83 terminals carrying more than [sic.] 90 million passengers and 5 million vehicles annualy [sic.]’’ (‘‘About IDO’’, 2008, ‘‘Company Profile’’ section, para. 3). Sea transportation can also carry cars so people can travel with their cars in a short time and it does not cause any traffic problems. For all these reasons, people and cars in large numbers can be transported to wherever they want every day in a short time.

The last important mission of solving Istanbul’s traffic problem is roadway system. Finally, roadway systems are most useful transportation systems because of being all-accessible. The most important property of roadway systems is that it can reach everywhere. Roadway systems have a very important position in transportation owing to their property of accessing everywhere (SEDEFED, 2008, ‘‘A Look to 2008’’ section, para. 2). So, roadway systems are preferred owing to their accessibility. Moreover, the other advantage of roadway systems is common public transportation. In spite of the fact that having coasts with Marmara and Karadeniz seas, daily transportations are commonly made by using roadways. Despite of traffic jam, 89 percent of travels are made by using roadways (‘‘Istanbul Citizens Choice is Roadway’’, n.d, para. 1). Although roadway systems have disadvantages, it is still most used transportation system. In brief, it can be said that all-accessibility is one of the most important property of roadway systems and it causes roadway systems to be more preferred.

In addition to be able to reach everywhere, roadway systems are easy for trading. Primarily, it makes home delivery possible. Owing to high level of accessibility, even if roadway is not chosen system of transportation, it is used for home delivery because of its property of complementarity (“Comparison of Transportation Systems”, 2008, para. 2). Roadway systems offer making forwarding goods and cargo – to wherever it is desired easily. Furthermore, roadways are less affected by bad weather conditions. Roadway systems are affected by bad weather conditions like rain, fog and storm less than other transportation systems (“Comparison of Transportation Systems”, 2008, para. 2). Roadway systems are less affected by weather conditions because of their attribute of offering more precaution options. For all these reasons, roadway systems are most frequently used ways in trading.

In conclusion, railway, seaway and roadway systems have magnificent features to solve the transportationproblem in Istanbul. Decreasing the traffic jam, people prefer the railway system because of its speed and transportation capacity. Having a separate way which means no traffic jam, again, the seaway system is one of the most preferable ways. Because of accessibility and common usage, roadway systems affect the traffic positively. Thus, these transportation systems help to solve traffic problem and they provide people more comfortable life. Meanwhile, further research on this subject is recommended to better understand the facilities of transportation and to learn how to benefit from it in the best way.