[ebiester]

I don't know how the regulations worked in Istanbul, but they were very common even with the other transit options, and worked very well. I'd go from Kadikoy to Taksim and back late at night and walk or take the taxi for the rest. For 3 bucks (6 lira) they would leave when full, approximately every 5 minutes, and were pretty organized.

This is one of the areas where we could use a better public-private partnership in our cities.

[azernik]

Yup - dolmus in Turkey, sherut in Israel, servees in Jordan/Egypt - these are common throughout the Middle East, usually using very similar models of vans. A common experience I've had in all three countries is waiting near the start of a route for enough people to arrive to make it worth the driver's gas to head off.

[eru]

For westerners the most baffling experience is paying in a dolmus: your money goes via the persons in front of you to the driver, and change gets handed back the same way in the opposite direction.

[JackFr]

You've never bought a hot dog at a ballgame?

[eru]

No. I guess that's a US custom? Interesting!

[seanmcdirmid]

Similar to a Thai Jeepney.