The long-awaited Istanbul Card is here!

For several years the city of Istanbul has been announcing that they were going to issue a new electronic card that can be used as a transit pass.  In the long run it's planned to function as a type of electronic wallet that can be used to pay for parking, museum entrance fees, taxis, and other common payments.  It's called the "Istanbulkart" (Istanbul card).  There have been a series of delays, so last year they had already largely phased out the old payment system for public transportation but hadn't introduced the new one.  This meant that they had to bring back an even older system of small plastic tokens as a patch until they could get the Istanbulkart working.  Last summer the system was a bit of a mess.  This year, while they still have the tokens, they have finally rolled out the Istanbulkart system.  You still have to buy the card from a human in a booth, but once you've got one you can add more money to it using a machine similar to an ATM that's found around transit centers.  We used the tokens for the first few days, but fairly quickly were able to get to a human in a booth to buy ten cards so everyone would have one.  Technically more than one person can travel on the same card (you just tap the card on a card reader one time for each person and it deducts the fare), but we bought enough that everyone can have a card to use, so the students can go out in various groups without refilling the card all the time (smaller tram stations and bus stops don't have machines to refill the card, so you don't want to end up at a bus stop and find that your card is out of money).

Istanbulkarts are a long-needed system, because in the past different types of transit systems used different payments.  The card unifies all the systems.  Ultimately it's a good thing, but since there have been so many changes over the past few years, tourists find it hard to keep up.  Depending on the year their guidebooks were issued, the information about transit will vary, and the system the guidebook mentions may or may not be an option at this time.  We've been using the cards for tram trips, but today we took a bus for the first time since we've been here.  Busses are particularly problematic for tourists because unlike trams there is not a way to buy a transit pass at all the stops.  Tourists may try to get on a bus and discover that they don't have a way to pay for it.

Today I was sitting near the front of a crowded bus.  Two tourists got onto the bus, and wearing their shorts and with cameras slung around their necks, it was pretty obvious that they were clueless.  One of them started gesturing and waving some money around.  I was a bit slow to figure out what he was trying to convey (he late made it clear that he spoke American English, which would have served him much better as far as I was concerned, but apparently he didn't recognize me as a fellow American).  In any case, the Turk next to me caught on much more quickly than I did, and immediately held out his Istanbulkart to the tourists.  I realized that the tourists had no way to pay the fare on the bus because they didn't have an Istanbulkart and the bus didn't take cash.  The Turkish man immediately realized this and allowed them to use the bus fare from his own card.  They offered to pay him, and he was completely honest and gave them correct change for their five lira bill.  I was impressed.  In the US, I'm not sure this would have happened.  Sometimes on the buses in California I've seen people make change, but I've never seen someone offer to pay someone else's fare.  In a crowded environment, Americans tend not to volunteer to help; they take their cue from other people, and generally don't want to be the first person to jump in to assist someone.  This is the bystander effect and it has had some horrific consequences in the US.  On many occasions here, though, we've seen people take the initiative to assist other people, even when they could easily sit back and wait for someone else to do it. I admire this about the Turks.  I genuinely feel safer here than I do at home, and I think part of this is because I've had enough of these experiences that I feel confident that if I am in a situation where I need help, Turks will help me.  Sadly, I don't feel that confidence in the US.