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Istanbul Tramway

Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey

The "Speed Tramway" in Istanbul is a light rail streetcar system with one line. It goes from Kabatas (near Taksim) to the old part of the city, and continues from there. It's relatively cheap, and convenient to use. Trams usually arrive at each station every couple of minutes.

Tokens are purchased (for 1.30 YTL) from a small booth just outside the platform. Although the ticket vendor didn't speak English, it was pretty easy just to give him the money and get the change back. To enter the platform, just put the token in the turnstile and walk through. The single token is good to travel anywhere on the tramway line.

On the tram, the ride is quick and smooth. The cars we were on were clean. At each stop, the name of the location was announced in both Turkish and English. There was also a route map, so you could see where you were going.