Hot on the heels of our good news report about the Metro Mini service, we bring you news of restricted choice at Kaş bus station.

In this article we tell you of two separate incidents, where British people were prevented from catching the bus they wanted.

We would be interested to hear whether any other KTLN reader has had a similar encounter.

Scenario 1: Friday 14th October
It was mid afternoon, and a KTLN reader was waiting in Kaş bus station for a bus to take him to Kalkan. 

There were a couple of larger buses with Kalkan signs in their front windows, plus a small dolmuş. 

Questions asking when they were leaving resulted in a standard response of, "Five minutes".  Rather than getting on any particular bus, the traveller stood in the bus park looking for signs of movement.

A driver got into one of the larger buses.  There were signs for Kalkan and Fethiye in the front window.  The traveller approached to get on board.  At this point, a number of men appeared, saying he should not get on board, but take the dolmuş instead.  The traveller said he wanted to get on the first bus leaving, and waited at the door, which had been closed, to open up and let him on board.

There ensued a conversation between the traveller and the men, who seemed to be in charge of things.  It was clear that he was not going to be allowed on the bus, even though it was stopping at Kalkan.  The bus left with plenty of spare seats, and he had to wait a further 10 minutes before the dolmuş left Kaş bus station.

Judging by the grin on his face, the driver of the dolmuş, appeared to find it amusing that the traveller had been prevented from getting on the earlier bus.

Scenario 2: Sunday 16th October
On Sunday afternoon, two KTLN readers were trying to get from Kaş to Kalkan.  They wanted to catch the first bus or dolmuş leaving the bus station.

They were corralled [their words], on to a dolmuş, which was said to be leaving immediately.  This was not true.  They then saw that a Batı Antalya bus was about to leave, so they got off the dolmuş, and got on board the Batı Antalya bus, and were directed to their seats by the driver.

Then a man boarded the bus and ordered them off.  He said the Batı Antalya bus was not going to Kalkan, even though there was a sign for Kalkan in the front window.

Feeling intimidated, they reluctantly got off the bus, at which point it departed - still with the Kalkan sign in the front window.  Some 25 minutes later, the dolmuş finally departed for Kalkan.

Bullied and intimidated
KTLN has referred these two stories to the local authorities. The people involved in both scenarios felt bullied and intimidated.

We would be interested to know if these are unusual incidents, or whether other readers have experienced similar treatment.  This was at Kaş bus station, but how are you treated at other bus stations - Kalkan, Fethiye, Antalya, Istanbul etc?

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