Transport and the shape of the city in Istanbul

The card and the fare ladder

Buy an İstanbulkart. It costs TRY 165 and it is the whole fare system: İETT buses, metro, tram, funicular, the Tünel, the nostalgic tram, private public buses, ferries, Marmaray and the metrobüs all run on it. On buses, metro, tram and funicular the full fare is TRY 46.20 for the first boarding, then TRY 34.40 for the first transfer, TRY 26.42 for the second and TRY 17.18 for the third through fifth. Every figure here is from the tariff that took effect on 20 July 2026, and anything from an earlier one is out of date.

• Discounted rates: TRY 22.55 for students, TRY 33.08 for teachers and over-60s, TRY 41.58 for students over 30.
• A single-use ticket or a contactless bank card costs TRY 65 a journey with no transfer discount; a ten-journey ticket is TRY 530.
• Metro İstanbul also runs a night metro service on selected lines.

What is not flat-fare

There are no fare zones in the ordinary sense, but several services are priced by distance on their own scales. The metrobüs charges by the number of stops, from TRY 33.08 for one stop to TRY 68.59 for thirty-four or more, and transferring onto it from anything else gets no discount at all. Marmaray, the cross-Bosphorus rail tunnel from Halkalı to Gebze, charges by station count, takes the maximum fare at entry and refunds the balance at the exit gate. Ferries are priced per route, and the airport metro works on the same entry-and-refund principle as Marmaray.

• Between 01.00 and 06.00 the metrobüs drops the distance tariff and charges every journey at the top band, TRY 68.59, however few stops you travel.
• Ferry fares are set per route by Şehir Hatları and vary a lot between crossings, so price the crossing you will actually make rather than assuming one ferry fare.
• The Princes' Islands are their own tariff again, both for the ferry out and for transport once you are on the islands.

The monthly pass, and whether it pays

The monthly pass is the Mavi Kart, and it rewards arithmetic. The full-rate card is TRY 3,628 for 180 journeys, the student card TRY 653 for 200 journeys, and the teacher and over-60 card TRY 2,256 for 200. At TRY 46.20 a ride the full-rate card breaks even at about 79 journeys in the month, so it pays if you commute daily and transfer, and does not if you work from home two days a week. It is not accepted on the airport express and luxury coach services at all.

Airports

Istanbul Airport has its own metro line, the M11, which runs to Gayrettepe and is priced by station count rather than at the flat fare, charging the maximum on entry and refunding the balance at the exit gate as Marmaray does. The cheap alternative is an İETT city bus at a flat TRY 92.40. HAVAİST coaches are the comfortable one, priced per route on their own scale well above the bus and outside the İETT tariff, so take the fare from HAVAİST rather than from a guide. Sabiha Gökçen on the Asian side sits at the end of the M4 metro at the ordinary flat fare.

• İETT buses to Istanbul Airport, all TRY 92.40: H-1 from Mahmutbey metro, H-2 from Mecidiyeköy, H-3 from Halkalı, H-6 from Mescidi Selam and Arnavutköy, H-8 from Hacıosman metro via Sarıyer.
• Sabiha Gökçen buses: E10 to Kadıköy TRY 92.40, E3 to 4.Levent TRY 138.60, express SG-1 to Kadıköy TRY 300.30, SG-2 to Taksim TRY 485.10.
• The SG express coaches charge the same fare on a student, teacher or 60+ card as on a full one, and the Mavi Kart is not valid on them at all.

Taxis, and taking a car across

Taxis are metered by vehicle segment, with standard yellow the cheapest, turquoise D-segment above it and black E or F-segment dearest, each on its own opening rate, kilometre rate and minimum fare. The minimum matters more than the opening rate, because a short hop across one neighbourhood is charged at the minimum however short it is. The rates are set by UKOME and reset with the fare rounds, so read the tariff card in the cab rather than a figure you saw written down somewhere. If you need to move a car across the water without the bridges, the Sirkeci to Harem ferry takes vehicles, and the vehicle fare is charged on top of your own passenger fare.