An American Life in Istanbul

If there is one thing that visitors to Istanbul will remember, it’s the traffic. There is always a lot of traffic, especially as you get in closer to the city center. Places like Levant, Besiktas, Taksim, Kadikoy always seem to be choking on traffic, night and day. On May 14th, a ferry will begin running from where I live to Besiktas, which I am hoping will make my life easier. Hopefully I will be able to take it and dodge the traffic that we always hit going into the city. Since I usually stay on the European side with friends there, my commute isn’t as bad as Murat’s. He must cross one of two bridges that connect the two continents, and there is ALWAYS traffic at the bridge.

There are several factors, from what I know, that lead to Istanbul’s traffic problem. The first is obvious: over-population. Istanbul is built on two kissing peninsula’s. As the city grows, it can only grow to the west on the European side, and to the east on the Asian side, yet everyone still wants to be in the city. With people constantly trying to move in and out of the city, and routes connecting the two continents very limited, this puts a lot of cars on the road.

The second factor that amplifies all the problems caused by the first is poor design. Murat agrees with me that very little urban planning appears to have gone into Istanbul. With explosive growth for the past 20 years, people have built and built to meet the insatiable demand for industry, apartments, and offices. In the past developers would start building without permits in empty space (sometimes without actually owning the land). Once completed, the government would grant them ownership. With everybody and their mother throwing up buildings and supporting infrastructure, little thought went into the overall infrastructure of the city. No trams were built, no subways and no trains. Furthermore, because of a decision approximately 50 years ago, to follow the US model of highway building, Turkey also has terrible railway infrastructure.

The third factor is, as Murat puts it, “everyone drives like retards.” Cairo still takes the cake when it comes to the worst drivers I have ever seen, but Istanbul is a respectable second. While not the utter lawlessness of Cairo, Istanbul still has its share of rampant traffic violations. In the city, second lanes become places to park, with miles of cars illegally parked. Parking police come around, with a special kind of truck that lifts random cars from the tightly packed lines and carries them off. But this doesn’t change parking habits. Rather than spend the time to find a legal parking spot, most seem satisfied to risk having their car carried off. People will stop in the road, put their hazards on, and pop into a bar or café for an ice cream, or to catch the closing minutes of a soccer match.

Cab drivers, as usual, contribute their own special disruption to traffic flow. I’ve seen them stop in the middle of the road, completely indifferent to the frustrated honks behind them, to ask for directions, or to pick up a fair. I have seen an entire line of cars not move an inch at a green light because of a cab.

The government has taken some steps to curb this problem. There are so many taxes on cars that often people end up paying double their normal value. This is a logical deterrent to car ownership. There is a cap on building height in many parts of the city, which leads to a lower density of people (tall office buildings have many works, all of whom need to park their cars somewhere). But these seem to do very little. What happens instead is a law stating that in the event of an accident, neither party can move their car until the police have made their report, cripples the flow of traffic. From what I have seen, minor traffic bumps can quickly lead to several kilometers of stalled traffic. Investments are feeble at best proportional to the size of the city. The private sector has stepped in where profitable with the small, but convenient dolmus, and ferries throughout the Bosporus.

Instead of consider a massive public transportation overhaul – which may be unviable due to the age and density of Istanbul – the government has talked of taxing people to come and go from Istanbul. Now, this information is comes to me second hand, so I am not sure how seriously it is being considered, but will it really do much? If over 100% taxes on cars have not deterred people from driving will this tax make a difference? Does it matter if this tax were to be applied as a variable cost to consumers or as a fixed cost (like the taxes on the cars)? Indonesia has had a lot of success with a similar plan, and if Mayor Bloomberg has his way, New Yorkers may be paying $8 to enter the US south of 82nd street (source: The Economist). At least it will raise revenue to fund further infrastructure improvements.

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Now this brings me to what I find amusing about Istanbul’s dreadful traffic. In all these traffic jams, there are always guys walking around selling stuff. Looking at the economic costs of traffic – things like time lost, stress generated, petrol resources wasted – is interesting, and can lead to a valid argument for more investment, but it’s the same argument in every city. Istanbul however, has a small micro-economy that thrives on the traffic jams. When traffic stops, an army of vendors descends from nowhere, filling in the tight spaces on the nearly motionless roads roads.

In my experience, this is unique to Istanbul. I have been in many cities, and nowhere else have I seen this. It’s like being at a baseball game; there is hot dog guy, beer guy, water guy, cracker jacks guy and so on. The convenience and the price hike are the same. In Istanbul however, there are slightly different products for sale as you sit, watching for the car in front of you to move. In fact, I would say it is almost as excruciating as watching a baseball game, or perhaps golf (There is less excitement, but better music). Just like in baseball, there is the occasional burst of excitement when things picks up, only slow again. Just like in baseball, you are dying for a drink to keep things interesting. Just like in baseball, afterwards you are exhausted and don’t want to do anything. Finally, a good traffic jam takes about as long as baseball.

Sorry, I got a bit side tracked there. I enjoy this traffic-baseball metaphor. Let’s get back to our small traffic economy. Now, I am not an economist, but I took some economics, and in general it’s pretty straightforward. If there is demand, there will usually be a supply that tries to meet that demand, right? At least if it is profitable to meet the demand, there will be a supply. So let’s look at this groups three key products: water, jumbo-pretzel-bread things (not really sure what they are) and cell phone car chargers.

Water: It’s Istanbul, it’s hot, it’s dry, and most people don’t take water with them incase the ride home from work gets long and grueling so naturally people get thirsty. Since tap water isn’t very good quality, bottled water is a necessity. Almost any service of this kind is going to supply water, but it seems to especially have a foothold in the markets that are Istanbul’s traffic jams.

If there was a slightly wider variety of products, one could say that the traffic jams turn into a kind of bazaar. Imagine that, you could buy a kebab, or birthday card, or earrings for your wife, all while stuck in traffic! Wouldn’t that be grand! It could be one of the great wonders of the world. Like the nomads of the US Midwest, Istanbul’s traffic-jam markets would come and go with the traffic.

Accidents would of course be the biggest catalyst for their business. Traffic is one thing, but it’s car accidents that really bring things to a grinding halt. In fact, there is even incentive here for them to cause car accidents! Imagine the unionized workers of Istanbul’s traffic-jam markets hurling goats (or something else) into traffic, creating planned traffic jams at prime hours. With the way Turkey’s traffic laws work, they could even take two of their own cars and bump them together. I wonder if they would make a blog so people could pick up the schedule? Could turf wars over the best routes develop?

Jumbo-pretzel-bread things: Food, everyone wants food. Driving home from work and you get stuck in traffic for two hours, of course you are going to get hungry. This is a no brainer. I haven’t tried these yet, because frankly, they don’t look too appetizing, but everyone else must like them. I would prefer a New York City hot dog – or better yet a Jimmy Dog from Hazleton PA – but I guess that’s not a reasonable request in a Muslim country (remember, no pork).

Cell phone car chargers: This is the product that interests me. In order for this to be one of the top three selling products on the street, there has to be significant demand for it. That means more than flashy light things, beads, necklaces and most surprisingly ice cream. How can cell phone chargers beat out ice cream and flashy light things? I asked myself this same question and came up with the following answer, which wonderfully illustrates Istanbul’s traffic.

Cell phone chargers are useful for one thing: charging your phone when you are in the car. This is especially useful for people who spend a lot of time in the car on the phone. People like Kenan, who drives a lot for his job, have use for one of these. But that’s not really a sizeable market in my mind. Your average traveler on his way home from work wouldn’t really have need for one of these, right? With a good charge, you can get 2, 3, 4 hours of talk time out of cell phones these days, maybe more. That should be more than adequate for even the longest commutes home. By this thinking there wouldn’t be much demand unless… you were stuck in traffic for a really long time. Therein lies the answer. You get stuck in traffic for a really long time and if you are chatting on the phone to pass the time, you need a charger. Imagine being stuck in traffic so long that you need to recharge your phone! If that doesn’t give you an appreciation for Istanbul traffic, you will just have to come visit me and see for yourself.

Ok, I am done. I hope my little essay here was coherent (it has been awhile since I attempted any formal writing). If you made it this far, time for a treat. Last night, while I was doing some exercise, Baris asked if I had any shorts, which I didn’t. Since Murat wasn’t around, Baris went looking through Murat’s stuff for a pair of shorts. I could hear Baris talking about not being able to find shorts but I didn’t pay too much attention. What happened next put me in tears with laughter.

Baris came out wearing what was most definitely women’s workout pants. They were very tight, and too short for him. He looked at me and said, “Hey, I have never seen Murat wear these.” I just hit the floor laughing.

In summary, traffic sucks, and Baris cross dresses.

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