Buses and Dolmuses
Long-distance bus is the best way of getting around. There is no national bus company; most routes are covered by several competing firms, which will all have ticket booths at the otogars (bus stations) from which they operate, as well as offices in the relevant town centres. Terminal is the name given to a new bus station in a town that already has an otogar . (In bigger cities, the better bus companies will run a minibus transfer service between their central offices and the otogar or terminal - useful if the latter is some way out of town.) There's no such thing as a comprehensive timetable. Better companies will have a seasonal schedule of sorts but even these are subject to weekly or even daily changes and it's best to shop around to find the most convenient departure time ; bigger companies tend to make fewer stops enroute, which means their quoted journey time is more accurate. Bus companies in smaller otogars employ touts to drum up trade, but larger otogars are mercifully free of them. Fares vary only slightly between the best and scruffiest companies: as a broad example, expect to pay about $3 per 100km on the better buses. Top companies such as Ulusoy, Pamukkale, Kamil Koc and Varan are worth the bit extra in comfort, service and safety. From October to April (ie outside the main tourist season), the bigger companies may stop running buses altogether along routes that are popular with summer visitors, in which case you may have to make do with slower, more uncomfortable local minibus services; in extreme cases you may not find any transport at all. For short hops you're most likely to use a dolmus , a car or minibus that follows a set route, picking up and dropping off along the way; sometimes the destination will be posted on a sign at the kerbside, and sometimes also within the dolmus itself, though you'll generally have to ask. On busy urban routes it's better to take the dolmus from the start of its run; otherwise, hail it like a taxi to stop it in the street. Fares are very low; passengers traditionally make up change between themselves and pass the total up to the driver, a system less haphazard than it sounds.
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