Buses in Turkey

Buses! At a bus stop!

And now, a few words about bus travel in Turkey. We have mainly been using buses to make our way around this country. The train system is practically non-existent and the planes are a bit pricey and have somewhat finicky schedules. The bus system, however, is very complete and very reasonable, price-wise. There are scores of bus companies, from the very large to the very small. Some companies run systems across the country, others run systems in specific regions, or serving specific towns.

Every bus has at least two employees: the driver and the conductor/steward. The conductor/steward is responsible for stowing baggage (for which claim tickets are given), checking tickets well after the bus is underway (if ever), serving water, tea and snacks, and knowing exactly where everyone is getting off. The driver, well, drives. So far the drivers have been considerate and safe (far removed from our bat-out-of-hell Corsican drivers).

Our last two bus trips have been interesting enough to write about. The first was from Selcuk to Pamukkale. Our receipt/voucher stated a Pamukkale destination, however, when we exchanged the receipt for tickets a few minutes before the bus showed up, the tickets read Denizli (the large town near Pamukkale). When we asked questions we were told: “Don’t worry. It will work.”… “But what do we have to do to change in Denizli?”… “Don’t worry. Be happy”. So, we stopped worrying and got on the bus. Note: the tickets were also made out in the name: Tourist People.

Check out the middle part in orange. (Bay means Man)

These are long haul buses we’re talking about. Big Mercedes buses with 50ish seats, air-conditioning, in-seat entertainment systems, the works. They start and stop in gigantic bus stations (otogar in Turkish). But in spite of all this big business, official-seeming appearance, they will pick up whomever has a hand raised on the side of the road. And they will drop you off wherever along the route you ask. Whether it is at a small dirt track that will take you to your small town, or the side of a gigantic roundabout that is just more convenient for you than the otogar.

Our drive to Denizli took a little more than three hours of pulling into towns’ otogars, and stopping by the side of the road. Just after we passed the “Welcome to Denizli” sign, the bus pulled off again onto a dirt patch, presumably to let someone off who wanted to be let off on a dirt patch on the outskirts of town, and the conductor/steward walked up to Kate and me (or shall I say Mrs. Tourist People and me) and said: “Pamukkale”. We looked at him, he looked at us. We got our stuff and got off the bus. Waiting on the dirt patch was a van, the driver of which grabbed our bags and ushered us on. As we were the only passengers, he asked if it was OK to make a detour. We agreed and thereby got a quick tour of Denizli as he went and picked up some small appliance. He drove us to Pamukkale where he asked us if we already had hotel reservations. We did, and he told us to come to his hotel if our rooms weren’t any good. He owns a hotel, he doesn’t even work for the bus company. Odd system, but it seems to work.

The drive to Dalyan from Pamukkale was less interesting, however, it felt quite civilized. The family of the steward/conductor rode on the bus. They were having a good time. They sat in the back for the first stretch, and then after a number of folks got off, they moved to the front so that the two girls could sit next to their dad. As soon as the bus dropped down onto the Mediterranean coastal road, we stopped at one of the many road-side orange stands. The driver and steward bought a kilo of oranges, and the stewards’ daughters spent the rest of the trip distributing them to the passengers. Like I said: civilized.

Stop along the side of the road from Dalyan to Antalya