HGS, bridges and tunnels: how tolls work here
No booths to stop at, no coins to find. Four things to know.
On the road, 4 min read
There are no cash booths on Turkish motorways and bridges: crossings are read automatically. It's what surprises foreign drivers most, and in a rental car it's the easiest part.
1. The HGS tag is already on the car
Our cars carry an HGS tag on the windscreen. You buy nothing and register nowhere. You don't even need to slow down.
2. Tolls are yours, but never a surprise
Bridge, tunnel and motorway tolls during the rental belong to the driver. They are recorded on the tag and you see the list at return. The state revises the rates during the year, so we quote none here: ask for the current ones at handover.
3. Four ways across the Bosphorus
The 15 July Martyrs and Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridges are the two main crossings inside the city. The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge loops round the north: the calmest way to change continents without entering the city, or to come down from IST to the Asian side. The Eurasia Tunnel links the old city to the Kadıköy side under the sea: the shortest and the dearest.
4. Leaving the city
Towards Bursa and İzmir, the Osmangazi Bridge crosses the gulf in minutes, with no ferry to wait for. The Anatolian Motorway takes you towards Ankara, the TEM towards Thrace and Edirne. One tag works on all of them.
A tip: switch on "avoid toll roads" in your navigation and you'll usually lose half an hour in Istanbul. The bridge costs less than that half hour.