Shopkeepers wanted an increase. IMM management again explained that price regulation is vital. However, the ministry representatives, who hold the majority in UKOME, rejected the mandatory wage increase proposal for the second time. IMM Secretary General Can Akın Çağlar, who chaired the UKOME meeting, said, “We have come to a point where we subsidize public transportation with one third of our budget. "The public harm that happened in our country years ago should not be brought to the agenda again," he said.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Transportation Coordination Center (UKOME) Extraordinary meeting was held at Yenikapı Kadir Topbaş Performance and Art Center. In March, the public transportation tradesmen and the IMM's jointly brought to the UKOME agenda, the mandatory wage increase proposal in public transportation was discussed for the second time.
“PUBLIC DAMAGES SHOULD NOT AGAIN AGAIN”
İBB Secretary General Can Akın Çağlar stated that they demanded an increase in ticket prices in line with the sustainability of public transportation and the demand of tradesmen, and announced that public transportation has reached a point where it loses its capital. Noting that the official inflation has exceeded 61 percent, Çağlar said:
“While IETT bought a liter of diesel with 2 tickets in the past, today it can buy it with 4 tickets. Turkey's economic distress affects not only citizens but also tradesmen and municipalities. As IMM, we have to subsidize all public transportation with a figure of close to 33 billion liras, which corresponds to 15 percent of our annual budget. Our aim, of course, is not to make a raise, not to want our people to be burdened. But we have to ask for this for the sake of the sustainability of the service. We demand this increase in order to prevent the public losses experienced in our country years ago from coming to the fore again.”
The representatives of the tradesmen, who came to the point of closing the contacts, took the floor one by one and explained how vital the demands for a raise were. Written and verbal requests from tradesmen's chambers were evaluated at the meeting, and an offer of 50 percent increase in public transportation fees and 40 percent increase in service fees was presented again.
Pelin Alpkökin, Deputy Secretary General for Transportation, said, “Every vehicle group has a capacity to carry. If you increase one and keep one less, you will destroy the system within the framework of public transport principles. At the point reached today, IMM puts 5.48 liras out of 3 liras in its safe. Only half of 8 lira will go into your pocket. In other words, IMM already subsidizes and will subsidize public transportation,” he said.
Alpkökin said that 100-16 million people are transported daily by 20 thousand vehicles in public transportation in Istanbul and that the different increase between vehicles will disrupt the balance between species.
Pointing out that fuel prices have increased by 300 percent compared to last year, IETT General Manager Alper Bilgili said, "The additional burden on IETT's budget due to the price increase in diesel since November 2021 is 3 billion liras."
Ozgur Soy, General Manager of Metro Istanbul, also noted that a few years ago, the price of a metro ticket was over 1 dollar, and now it has decreased to 37 cents.
Representative of the Ministry of Transport, Serdar Yücel, claimed that there has been no change in fuel prices since the last meeting. Yucel; He said that they offered an 18 percent increase for the full ticket, and a 32 percent increase for the service, minibus and taxi drivers. He wanted the proposals to be voted on separately, aiming to alleviate the reaction from the tradesmen and not taking into account the IMM's raise offer. IMM Secretary General Can Akın Çağlar announced that the 18 percent and 32 percent proposals made by the Ministry Representative Serdar Yücel were not on the agenda, so they were not in compliance with the legislation and therefore could not be voted on.
After the opinions were expressed, the "Regulation of Public Transportation Fee Tariffs" proposal, which was put to the vote, was rejected for the second time by the majority of the representatives of the Ministry.
ISPARK WILL OPERATE COMMERCIAL BICYCLES IN THE ISLANDS
At the meeting, the proposal for the “Revision of the Bicycle Rental Directive” in the Islands was unanimously approved. With the decision, the commercial bicycle business in the Adalar district will be carried out by İSPARK, a subsidiary of IMM. For payments to be made with the 'Pay As You Go' system, the opening will not exceed 1,5 times the full ticket (8.22 lira), the minute increase will not exceed one tenth of the full ticket (55 kuruş). A total of 1.500 bicycle rental services will be provided in the Islands.
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