Riding the Taksim – Kabatas Funicular

I took the Taksim to Kabatas funicular to get to what should be my final dental appointment this afternoon. It’s a brilliant way to do it as it saves a massive amount of walking all the way down the hill and back up again. But even so, Istanbul is not a city that’s friendly towards people with limited mobility because even though the funicular can get you down and back again, although there are escalators at each end, these only go upwards and you still have to descend a lot of steep steps down at both ends under your own steam.

I photo-documented the whole journey today as the shots I took previously were so poor and today’s pics give a good impression of what the trip of only around two or three minutes involves. First some shots of the Metro station at the Taksim Square end.

See what I mean about the steps down into the terminus. People coming up have the benefit of an escalator but those going down don’t.

At the bottom there are signs in Turkish and English to direct you to the trains and as everywhere in Istanbul, it seems, at the very bottom there’s a small fast food buffet. Who buys and eats all this food I do not know.

Then you come to a row of entrance turnstiles that only appear to accept credit, debit or previously purchased (by credit or debit card) travel cards. Istanbul seems to be run on credit and debit cards and even small street vendors accept them because everyone has a mobile phone.

Travellers beware. When I swiped my card yesterday the screen turned green with Turkish writing that I did not understand. The turnstile did not move, so I swiped it again with the same result and yet again at another entrance. It was only when I watched other travellers that I realised that you have to push against the turnstile to pass through, so I probably paid the fare several times over learning this simple lesson.

Here are a couple of shots of the empty platform while we waited for the train to arrive and of it emerging upwards out of the tunnel.

The tunnel, the platform and the train all slope downwards (or upwards at the Kabatas end). The sides of the entrances are vertical, of course, and the train floors horizontal with steps in. The entrances have double doors, on the platform and the train carriages, and travellers enter on one side and exit on the other to permit free and easy movement at busy times.

The Kabatas end is smaller in size than the Taksim terminal and more modern but the procedures are similar. You exit onto the platform and ascend by escalator to the outside world via an entrance/exit hall which naturally has a ubiquitous fast food buffet.

They are building a super new ferry transfer terminal at Kabatas which now appears to be almost finished. There’s a large model of it in the entrance/exit foyer.

And to finish off with, some shots of the new terminal itself.

Istanbul is a fast-moving city and there’s a massive amount of rebuilding and development work going on. But anyone thinking of visiting need not be deterred as the amount of disruption to the tourist trade is minimal. You just need to think of it as being a part of the innate character of the city 😀