PodcastIstanbul subway night shift used by almost 600,000 in 2.5 months
Istanbul's night subway service has proven to be more popular than expected with almost 600,000 passengers using the Friday-Saturday night service in only 2.5 months.
Duvar English
595,481 people have used the subway night services that started on 30 August by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB). For the night service, which only runs on Friday and Saturday nights, the Yenikapı-Hacıosman M2 line was the most popular with 245,908 passengers, followed by the Yenikapı-Atatürk M1A line with 146,746 passengers and the Kadıköy-Pendik M4 line with 118,410 passengers.
According to information from IBB Press Office, night subway services ran 9 nights in October. 11,110 people used the train daily on average, and 1,852 passengers used the train on average hourly. 2018 data shows that the same subway carries on average 21,580 passengers hourly during daytime. While lines usually seem to be busy until 02:00 AM, some trains travel almost completely empty after 03:00 AM.
An IBB Press Office official has stated that the demand for 'night metro' has been far above expectations.