Starting in early 2017, Istanbul will have a new ferry line aiming to shorten travel times between the Asian and European sides of the city to seven minutes.

The car ferry line will operate between İstinye on the European side and Çubuklu on the Asian side and will carry some 1.7 million vehicles and 2.5 million passengers yearly.

The project aims to relieve heavy traffic of the three bridges spanning the Bosporus in the city where more than 14 million people live and offer an alternative method of transportation amid other options ranging from the metro, metrobus and passenger ferries.