Istanbulkart and Before, Variety of Usage

Istanbulkart is the continuation of the credit public transport pricing system, which was first used as Akbil. It started to be tested on bus lines in December 1994, and on April 2, 1995, it began to be used on IDO sea buses.
Later, it started to be used on the M1 metro line and in all city public transportation lines in 1998. On December 31, 2014, it was removed from use and turned into a magnetic card as Istanbulkart.

Istanbulkart Usage Areas

When it was first introduced, Istanbulkart was a magnetic card intended for use in public transportation instead of Akbil, but today it is used in many areas.
Currently, apart from public transportation, payments can be made in social facilities, IsPark parking payments, public toilets, taxi applications such as BiTaksi, market applications such as Getir, and market chains such as Migros, A101, Şok, Bim and CarrefourSA.
A minimum of 5 TL, a maximum of 300 at a time, a maximum of 500 per day, and a total of 2750 TL can be loaded onto the Istanbulkart.

Istanbulcard Types

Istanbulkart has different card types and usage types. Let's take a look at the main types.

• Blue Istanbul Card (subscription): It is a discounted subscription card. Monthly subscription is possible. After a 1-month subscription, the number of copies is given and free public transportation is available.
• Yellow Istanbul Card (free): It is a free card and is a recognized card like the Mother Card or the Disabled Card. They do not need to pay monthly fees such as printing fees or subscriptions for public transportation.
• Green Istanbul card (discounted): Used as a discounted Istanbul card. Student, teacher, over 60 years old, etc. This is the card used by those who benefit from discounts.
• Red Istanbul Card (anonymous): Anonymous Istanbul card. It is generally used as a card that charges full fees for all uses available to anyone.
• Digital Istanbul Card: It is a card defined in your mobile application and works only from the application. It is used with the phone camera and the QR code on the screen.
• Limited Use Istanbul Cards: These are cards called Birgeç that are purchased for single use or limited use. The main varieties named according to the transition pattern are birgeç, ikigeç, türkçe, quincec and ongeç. It can be purchased from ticket machines. It is the same as a red card using full fee but is non-refundable. For this reason, the red Istanbulkart is more advantageous.
• Istanbul City Card (tourist): These are cards with unlimited use for 1 to 15 days, produced for the purpose of use by tourists coming to Istanbul. There are 1, 3, 5, 7 and 15 day varieties.