Truck drivers protest new Bosphorus bridge toll, traffic blocked

Construction truck drivers staged a protest on the recently opened third bridge over Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait on Sept. 5, arguing that they were asked to pay different fares at different times and demanding a discount on the bridge's passage fares. 

The group of truck drivers stopped their vehicles some 50 meters before the toll booths in the Istanbul-Ankara direction of the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, and held a protest demanding lower fares. 

Due to the demonstration that lasted around half an hour, traffic stopped until teams arrived at the scene to negotiate with the protestors and convince them to end their demonstration.  

Meanwhile, over the weekend drivers taking the bridge also reacted to long vehicles lines formed due to unfinished connection roads and OGS and HGS passage toll systems which were not working. 

A driver complained about the high toll of the bridge.

"As of now, as you can see it [the toll] is 138 [Turkish] Liras. I have been waiting in the line for four hours and at the end of the four hours they take 138 liras from me. Previously when we pass from the FSM [Fatih Sultan Mehmet] Bridge, we used to pay both ways 65 liras. Now I have only come from across to here and I have paid a 138-lira toll. If you count the passage toll [that I will pay] in the evening, I am paying 200 liras. The car has been running for four hours, and it will run for two hours more in the evening. What will happen now?" said the driver. 

The third bridge over the Bosporus has eight road lanes, two rail tracks and is the longest suspension bridge with a railway system in the world.
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