ISTANBUL

Residents of Istanbul, Turkey’s busiest metropolis, have mostly reacted calmly to a general power cut which hit more than 40 provinces across the country on Tuesday.

“There was no panic,” a security officer waiting outside a tramway station in Istanbul’s busy Cevizlibag interchange told an Anadolu Agency reporter.

“We told them that there was general power cut around the country and in Istanbul. We distributed refund tickets and directed them to buses,” the officer added. Metro and tram services had been disrupted by the outage.

Another security officer at a nearby Metrobus line said there was no unusual demand for the fast bus line. “Operations were normal,” he said.

The power cut hit Istanbul after peak morning traffic, reducing possible extra congestion on transportation lines.

However, the province’s transportation body put extra buses in service to provide normal access.

“We put extra buses on 16 routes on the European and Asian sides of the province to enable uninterrupted access,” Istanbul Electric Tramway and Tunnel Company said in a statement.

Nevertheless, some commuters were complaining that they were not fully informed about the power blackout.

“Some people got into Metro but were later evacuated. We did not get enough information about the incident,” said Kadir Onum, a 33-year-old tour guide, adding that people had been left confused.

Other commuters preferred shared-taxi services. “In a normal day around these hours, shared taxis were waiting for commuters. But now commuters are waiting for a taxi,” said Hayri Danisman, a 50-year-old driver working between Taksim and Cevizlibag.

He said there had been a long line of people waiting for a taxi in the rain.

Danisman said there were 22 shared taxis in total, adding that all of them made extra trips; “I suppose we gained $450 extra because of the demand,” he added.

Around noon, electricity was restored; tramways and metro lines began operating again.

Turkey has experienced electricity outages in many regions due to problems that occurred in transmission lines, Turkish Electricity Transmission Company, TEIAS officials said Tuesday. The reason for the power cut is still unknown.