Istanbulkart is a

contactless smart card A contactless smart card is a contactless credential whose dimensions are credit-card size. Its embedded integrated circuits can store (and sometimes process) data and communicate with a terminal via NFC. Commonplace uses include transit tickets ...

for fare payment on

public transport in Istanbul ] Public transport in Istanbul comprises a bus network, various rail systems, funiculars, and maritime services to serve the more than 18 million inhabitants of the city spread over an area of 5712 km2. History Public road transpor ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It was introduced on March 23, 2009 in addition to the Akbil, an integrated

electronic ticket An electronic ticket is a method of ticket entry, processing, and marketing for companies in the airline, railways and other transport and entertainment industries. Airline ticket E-tickets in the airline industry were devised in about 1994, and ...

system which was eventually phased out in 2015. The card was developed and put into practice by the information technology company Belbim of the Metropolitan Municipality. The Istanbulkart is valid for boarding buses, funiculars, LRT, subway, commuter trains,

ferryboats A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

and

trams A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

operated by the Metropolitan Municipality and private companies. Cash payment on these transport systems is not possible. Reduced fees are applicable for up to five transfers within two hours to other vehicles on the transportation network. There are four different types of the Istanbulkart, one ordinary and three special. The special cards are issued upon the holder's legal eligibility, and are therefore personalized: # Ordinary card: for full fare payment, # Mavi Kart (Blue card) (

season ticket A season ticket, or season pass, is a ticket that grants privileges over a defined period of time. History The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' has illustrative quotations which show the term ''season ticket'' used in the United States in 1820 ...

): seasonal ticket discounted on monthly use basis, # Discounted card: for students, teachers, senior citizens (over 60 years of age) # Free card: for handicapped or disabled persons, senior citizens (over 65 years of age) and government employees underway on duty. The ordinary cards may be acquired from offices at major transport interchanges for a nonrefundable deposit of 50TL. It can be purchased for 50TL from vending machines located at metro entrances. The remaining sum will be deposited on the card. Afterwards, the cards can be loaded with credits up to 300 TL at these offices, special purpose machines, vending machines on the metro or at news-stands and small shops which offer this service. Cards for a limited number of passes (1, 2, 3, 5 or 10) are also available. Unlike the ordinary cards, the special cards are issued on a named basis, so they require an application to be made at one of the 13 application centers, or on the internet. To pay the fare, the smart card is brought into close proximity, up to , with a contactless reader during boarding of the transportation vehicle or at the toll gates of the station. It is not necessary for the card to touch the reader, cards inside a wallet or a handbag can be also read for rapid payment. The reader device signals confirmation of the fare payment with an audible sound, and the screen turns green showing the payment and the remaining deposit after a split second. In case of insufficient deposit on the smart card, the card reader shows the warning message "Yetersiz Bakiye" (Insufficient deposit) on its display along with an audible warning. Counterfeit cards will be confiscated by the bus driver or security personnel at the turnpikes. The Istanbulkart is compatible with international standards such as

ISO/IEC 7816 ISO/IEC 7816 is an international standard related to electronic identification cards with contacts, especially smart cards, and more recently, contactless mobile devices, managed jointly by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) ...

and

ISO/IEC 14443 ISO/IEC 14443 ''Identification cards -- Contactless integrated circuit cards -- Proximity cards'' is an international standard that defines proximity cards used for identification, and the transmission protocols for communicating with it. Standa ...

and is built using NXP's

DESFire MIFARE is the NXP Semiconductors-owned trademark of a series of Integrated Circuit, integrated circuit (IC) chips used in contactless smart cards and proximity cards. The brand name covers proprietary solutions based upon various levels of the IS ...

technology. Its use is planned to be extended to payments at municipality operated parking lots and theatres, as well as for privately owned taxis,

Dolmuş In Turkey and Northern Cyprus, dolmuş () are share taxis that run set routes within and between cities. Background Their name is derived from Turkish for "seemingly stuffed" referencing the fact that in days past these taxis were often filled t ...

(share taxis) and movie theatres. The personalized type of the smart card can also be used in a more general form for admission to an event or establishment or for municipality provided social welfare purposes. Due to the outbreak of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, since 2021, all passengers using an Istanbulkart are required to pair it with their HES (Hayat Eve Sığar, literally "Life Fits into Home") code, a public health tracking system.

References

{{Public Transport in İstanbul Fare collection systems in Turkey Transport in Istanbul Contactless smart cards 2009 establishments in Turkey Rapid transit in Turkey Ferry transport in Turkey Public transport in Istanbul

See also

References