Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, has witnessed a rise in the number of people using rail transport, with 75 million more people letting the train take the strain last year. New figures from Istanbul Ulaşım A.Ş. - an affiliate of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality - reveal that more than 477 million people used different rail systems in the megacity in 2014. This marked an increase of 75 million from 2013. Istanbul runs a variety of rail-based transport systems for its huge population, including an underground metro, a tramway as well as cable car and funicular lines. The public appears to have mostly chosen the city's expanding metro system compared to other forms of transportation; almost 305 million people rode the metro in 2014. Nearly 160 million people chose the tramway and 13 million used the city's funicular line. Passenger numbers also rose and fell with the seasons. According to statistics, almost 126.5 million people used Istanbul's railways in the fall compared to a mere 108.8 million in the summer. In spring, railway systems were used by 122 million people compared to winter with almost 120 million.
