Traffic-clogged Istanbul gears up for mayor’s cycling tour de force
Istanbul’s traffic-choked streets and impatient drivers once led a newspaper to pronounce cycling in the city a pastime “only for the brave”, but one local mayor has taken to the saddle to give that reputation a new spin.
In Zeytinburnu, a district on the city’s European side between Ataturk Airport and the tourist attractions of Sultanahmet, Murat Aydin is leading a campaign to persuade commuters to abandon horsepower for pedal power. In the process he is saving his council thousands of lira.
Four months ago, Mr Aydin gave up his official car, strapped on his cycling helmet and took to his bike to get to and from appointments. Dozens of municipal workers have since taken to two wheels, saving the council more than 132,000 lira (Dh80,000) in transport costs.
Mr Aydin’s unintended savings come as Turkey grapples with a falling currency, a surging budget deficit and rising inflation that has strained local finances.
The mayor, who was first elected in 1999, says he pedals at least 10 kilometres every day, saving about 80 litres of fuel a week. He boasts that travelling by bike is faster than negotiating traffic jams by car.
Every Thursday evening, Mr Aydin leads a growing number of cyclists through the neighbourhood in a bike club as onlookers wave from balconies and bemused motorists watch the procession. Zeytinburnu council has said bike use rose sevenfold since the start of the campaign in April.
“When I was in my twenties I always dreamt of going from Zeytinburnu to the Black Sea by bike,” said Mr Aydin, 58.
“In the 1980s, when I first came to Zeytinburnu, the roads were not much but there were a lot of people using bikes. At that time, people preferred using bikes but later the use of bikes became more difficult.
“A year and a half ago we started working on how to bring cycling back to life.”
Since 2000, rocketing car ownership across Turkey has outstripped capacity to improve roads or build new ones.
In six districts on the European side of Istanbul, including Zeytinburnu, the number of registered vehicles tripled to 3.6 million in the past 18 years, according to the Turkey Data Processing Centre.
Last month, Zeytinburnu’s streets were closed to traffic to mark European Mobility Week. Hundreds of cyclists took part, including many who have started pedalling only since Mr Aydin launched his campaign.
“The support of the people of Zeytinburnu is unbelievable,” Mr Aydin said. “People have embraced the project and clap when they see me on my bike.”
As well as training novice cyclists, the municipality has also added signs and road markings to raise awareness among motorists, most of whom are unused to sharing lanes with bikes. Forty bikehire points have been installed across the district.
The promotion of cycling seems an obvious way to alleviate Istanbul’s traffic. According to the INRIX 2017 Global Traffic Scorecard, Istanbul is the 20th most congested city in the world, with drivers spending a fifth of their journey time stuck in jams.
According to the World Health Organisation, Turkey suffered 37.3 road fatalities per 100,000 motor vehicles in 2015, nearly double the European average.
“Our research has found that the most realistic solution to the traffic problem is to open roads for shared use with bicycles,” Mr Aydin said.
The support of the people is unbelievable. People embraced the project and clap when they see me on my bike MURAT AYDIN Zeytinburnu mayor