Izmir as a booming economy thanks to recent investments and a logistically import port in Turkey has attracted many people to its territory. The people coming to this city are students, tourists, and investors. Consequently, the municipality has invested a large amount of money in public transport in Izmir to meet the citizens and foreigners.
As we have the same scenario in other countries, we can guess the section of public transport in Izmir. But there are some differences that we learn in the following context.
Before we go for details you should first learn about Izmirim kart or my Izmir card. This pre-paid rechargeable card is designed for passengers who tend to use public transport. You can get one from begets in the main stations. Also, there is Bilet 35 for tourists who just has one or two trips to Izmir. The card is valid on all metro and commuter rail lines, buses, ferries, trams, and in certain other municipal facilities. The İzmirim Kart allows you to use multiple forms of transport within a 90-minute window, combining for a single fare price.
Subway or Metro
There are two types of subways in Izmir, one called Metro and the other one is IZBAN.
There is not much difference between these two types. But to speak about the details, IZBAN (click on the link to learn about the timing) is much older than the other one and operates a longer distance from the North of the great Izmir with a 136 km (85 mi) long system with 40 stations to the most Southern part of Izmir called Selcuk. Also, they are not much fast and you should wait more compare to Izmir metro. It is the busier commuter railway, serving about 150,000 passengers daily.
On the other hand, Izmir Metro is the new child of Izmir and nowadays gives more comfortable service to citizens. Also, they are making new stations for longer distances. İzmir Metro has around 173,000 daily passengers. It comes from Bornova, one of the popular parts of Izmir, and goes through the city center; Bayraklı and Konak, and then Balçova. In the busy hours you can expect the Izmir metro every 2 minutes and for the times with fewer passengers, it goes to 5 mins. The line is 20 km (12.4 mi) long.
Bus
All of İzmir’s major districts are serviced by a dense, comprehensive municipal bus network under the name ESHOT Izmir relies heavily on buses. A popular cousin to the subway who complete public transport with each other. You can find buses everywhere, they are several numbers of them.
For knowing which bus should you use, you can easily search for your destination through Google Maps which gives you directions with bus and subway together. Also, there is a QR code at every bus station which you can scan and find out where is the bus. Isn’t so nice?
Urban ferries
It might sound confusing, but for the cities with a gulf, people might need to use a ferry to get to the other side of the city. There are some other ways to get there, for example with IZBAN you can get there, but it is still so entertaining and funny for passengers. During the daylight, you can see the surroundings and the horizon. At the night, the light of the buildings in addition to the beautiful skyscrapers has become a symbol of the city. There are 24 ferries shuttle between 9 quays (clockwise: Bostanlı, Karşıyaka, Bayraklı, Alsancak, Pasaport, Konak, Karantina, Göztepe, and Üçkuyular) servicing every day.
Tram
Not only a way of transport but also a city tour. Trams are not fast enough and they do not cover a large part of the city, still, you can use them to travel. But mostly we can say trams are a good way to pick a glance at the city and its busy places. You can also find the stations on Google Maps.
What we mentioned above are the services that are public and using the Izmir card or Bilet 35 is obligatory. But still, there are more forms of public transport for which you should pay cash.
Dolmuş
As you walk in the city of Izmir (Not just Izmir but the whole of Turkey) you can see some blue mini buses wandering in the streets, with destinations written on their body. Dolmus is not easy to use as other forms of transport and you should learn about where you want to go by asking the locals or even the drivers.
Taxi
There is no need to explain taxis, they are all the same in every country. Where ever you are you can get a taxi just by raising your hand. And to be sure not to pay too much, they have a small screen that shows you the price of your travel dependent on the distance you went. Also, there are several numbers of Taxis at the exit door of the Airport so you do not need to worry about how to get to your hotel when you exit the Airport
