CHP Mayors: Fuel Increases Will Be Reflected On Tickets

CHP's 11 metropolitan mayors made a joint statement after increasing fuel prices.

The statement said:

“In the difficult process that the Turkish economy is going through, economic predictability has unfortunately been replaced by daily price increases and unstable processes. The new conditions present our citizens as well as our local governments with serious difficulties. Until a while ago, there were rapid increases in fuel prices due to the rapid rise in foreign currency exchange rates. These increases continue, and for the first time in history, fuel prices have increased for 7 consecutive days in our country.

In fact, fuel prices have increased by more than 70 percent in the 94 days since the beginning of the year. A similar increase is also valid for energy prices. These extraordinary increases have made the price increases in public transportation obsolete some time ago and even made the situation even more difficult than before.

Healthy and sustainable public transportation service in our metropolises is one of the most important duties of our municipalities. Increasing personnel costs such as fuel and electricity used in public transportation, and maintenance and repair costs originating from overseas spare parts have increased to such an extent that municipalities can no longer afford them. Unfortunately, our proposal, which we have requested many times before, at least not to take SCT from the fuel used in public transportation, was ignored by the central administration.

When we consider all these processes, it has become inevitable that there will be serious increases in public transportation fees in the near future. We regret to express that, for reasons beyond our control, we will have to reflect these increases to our citizens. In addition, there are many citizens who use public transport free of charge, as required by law and within the framework of parliamentary decisions. In order for our citizens to receive healthy services, the support of 2016 TL paid to vehicles belonging to private individuals, for which municipalities have authorized public transportation in the city, with the regulation published in 1.000, has not been increased despite the intervening years. This situation sometimes brings the transporters face to face with our citizens who use public transportation for free. It is very easy for the government to prevent the unpleasantness experienced in public transportation by increasing the price in this support application. As the Mayor of 11 Metropolitan Municipality, we respectfully present our statement to the public's knowledge.”