İzmirim Kart: The Only Ticket That Matters

One card, the whole city

The İzmirim Kart is İzmir's contactless transport card. A single card works across the metro, the tram, İZBAN (the commuter rail that runs the length of the bay), the ferries, ESHOT city buses and the Balçova cable car. There is no separate ticket to buy for any of them — though İZBAN now runs on its own tariff (see the transfer section below).

Where to get one

Cards and tickets are sold at all seven ferry terminals — Konak, Bostanlı, Karşıyaka, Alsancak, Göztepe, Üçkuyular and Pasaport — at the central metro stations — Konak, Fahrettin Altay, Bornova, Halkapınar and Şirinyer — at the airport stations, at the Intercity Bus Terminal, and at two designated 24-hour booths.

Topping up

Every station has charging machines, and all ferry terminals have both machines and staffed booths during office hours. You can also top up online or through the İzmirim Kart app, which will create a digital card and let you board by QR code.

The online top-up trap. An online top-up is not usable immediately. It activates when you tap a validator on a vehicle, and the municipality states this takes effect after one hour. If you top up online on the way to the stop, assume it will not be there when you tap. Load at a machine if you need it now.

No card at all? You can also pay by tapping a contactless bank card on most routes. It costs slightly more than the İzmirim Kart fare and comes with no free transfers, and it isn't accepted on İZBAN — so for anything beyond a one-off ride, get the card or the app.

The 90-minute transfer is the part people miss

Pay for your first ride and every further ride within 90 minutes of it is included — on the metro, the tram, the ferries and the city buses. A ferry across the bay followed by a metro ride is one fare, not two, so long as you tap within the window. One catch: tapping in again on the same vehicle or at the same station within 30 minutes doesn't count as a transfer.

Two exclusions matter, and the first catches people out constantly. İZBAN is not part of the free transfer. The city council voted in August 2025 to take the commuter rail out of the transfer scheme, and it now has its own tariff: the card still works on İZBAN, but an İZBAN leg is charged as its own fare even when you tap inside the 90 minutes. (Some older official pages, including the municipality's English transport guide, still list İZBAN as included — they're out of date.) The benefit also does not apply to the bus routes serving the outlying İzmir districts, a few other special tariffs, the Bilet 35 paper ticket, or rides paid by bank card. Those are charged separately.

Travel at the right hour and pay half

Under the city's "Halk Taşıt" scheme, fares are half price every day between 05:00–07:00 and 19:00–20:00. It doesn't apply to the airport buses, the Baykuş night buses or Bilet 35 tickets, and İZBAN sets its own fares — check the current tariff if you're relying on it for the train.

What a ride costs

Fares change too often for a number written here to stay true — check the current tariff on the official ESHOT/İzmirim Kart pages linked below before you load the card.

Card types

Alongside the standard full-fare card there are reduced-fare personalized cards: a youth card (Genç, ages 7–25), a teacher card, a 60+ card, and the 65+ card for free travel. The app's digital card comes in the same types. Eligibility — especially for foreign residents — is for the İzmirim Kart office to confirm, so bring your passport and residence permit (and, for the youth card as a student, your student certificate) to a staffed İzmirim Kart booth and ask.