In the first week of Marmaray, 2 millions of passengers prefered Halkali-Gebze trains instead of dolmus and buses.

Halkali-Gebze suburban trains carried 3.3 mn passengers in its first week after opening on 13th of March. The line between Kazlicesme and Ayrilikcesmesi used to carry 1.3 mn passengers in average before opening. This means 2 million passengers shifted to trains in first week.

The shift was so effective that “dolmus” owners  organized a protest. It seems  that especially Kadikoy-Bostanci “dolmus”s have been effected deeply.

Having tripled the ridership in first week, Marmaray is expected to change the preferences of Istanbul citizens very deeply in near future. Here’re the things that will increase the ridership of Marmaray even more:

1. Many passengers do not know Marmaray yet.
2. The train accidents in 2018, especially the Ankara train accident causes hesitations.
3. The buses have not been reorganized according to Marmaray yet.
4. Service is not frequent enough yet. Train departs every 15 minutes in most of the line.
5. Integrated metro lines are under construction. Bostanci-Dudullu, Kirazli-Halkali, Bakirkoy-Kirazli, Goztepe-Umraniye, Sabiha Gokcen-Pendik, Istanbul Airport-Halkali, Atakoy-Ikitelli metro lines will make Marmaray even more attractive.

Last year, 3.5 million passengers travelled by minibus and dolmus, 4.5 million passengers traveled by bus. When Marmaray hit the target of 500 mn annual ridership, 15% of current minibus/dolmus/bus passengers will have shifted to rail.

Cover photo: Onur Göllü ©