In Türkiye’s most populated city, getting around is easier thanks to the expanding mass transportation network. Yet, residents of Istanbul now face another obstacle. Escalators and elevators that facilitate access to metro stations often stop working. Some are closed with signs showing they are under maintenance while the municipality says some are simply closed as part of “austerity measures.”
The problem aggravates commuters, especially on hot summer days when people have to climb a long flight of stairs to exit the stations. Anadolu Agency (AA) reported on Thursday that 153 escalators and 28 elevators at mass transportation hubs across the city were not working. The Yenikapı-Hacıosman and Kadıköy-Tavşantepe metro lines on Istanbul's European and Asian sides, respectively, are particularly notorious for their lack of working escalators and elevators. A total of 85 escalators, 12 elevators and four moving walkways are out of order in those two lines used by thousands of people every day.
The situation is not confined to the subway. Trams and the city’s heavily popular bus rapid transit service known as metrobus also suffer from malfunctioning escalators and elevators, spelling trouble in particular for the elderly, people with disabilities and families with toddlers who have to carry their strollers up and down steep stairs.
The Yenikapı-Hacıosman metro line, which stretches 24 kilometers (15 miles) and hosts 16 stations, has 48 malfunctioning escalators, 10 elevators and five moving walkways, though it is the busiest metro line connecting most districts on the European side to financial and commercial hubs 4. Levent and Mecidiyeköy.
On the Kadıköy-Tavşantepe metro line linking heavily populated Kadıköy to other districts on the Asian side, 37 escalators do not “escalate,” while two elevators are out of order. The Yenikapı-Kirazlı metro line, linking seaside districts and a commercial hub in Fatih to the city’s suburbs has one elevator and two escalators not working in one station alone. On the Kirazlı-Başakşehir and Metrokent lines on the European side, five out of nine stations do not have enough working escalators.
The Topkapı-Mescidi Selam tram line, stretching for about 15 kilometers, has three elevators not working in two stations.
On the metrobus line, which has 44 stations, escalators are not working at the Beylikdüzü, Beykent and Cihangir-Üniversite Mahallesi stations on the European side of the line.
