Age limit 69, no speed limit

Two news items appeared one after the other in recent days.

The first concerns motorcycle couriers.

The age limit for the SRC certificate, which is mandatory for drivers of commercial vehicles, has been raised to 69. 

In other words, it will now be possible to work as a motorcycle courier until the age of 69.

The second piece of news looked at things from a different perspective.

It was revealed that a citizen over the age of 65 used their right to free public transportation thousands of times throughout the year. 

As per the current policy, citizens over 65 already possess a free transportation card. 

Essentially, the system includes you in the “age group to be transported for free” after that age.

Now, let's stop and think.

In the same country, someone at 65 enters the “elderly” category.

But they are considered “fit to work” enough to be on a motorcycle, in traffic, delivering orders until the age of 69.

Isn't this a contradiction?

It means the issue is not age.

The issue is economic position.

In Turkey, the definition of age is not biological, but budgetary.

A 65-year-old citizen can board a bus for free thousands of times throughout the year.

Another 69-year-old citizen in the same city is delivering orders on a motorcycle.

One is an “age group protected” by the system.

The other is an “age group fit for work” according to the system.

But the difference between them is only four years.

A grandfather at an age to be doting on his grandchildren is carrying packages with a thermal bag on his back. 

This is not a romantic story of work ethic. 

This is a snapshot of economic reality.

Of course, those who want to work will work. No one can be told “don't work.”

But the question is:

Is being a motorcycle courier at 69 a choice, or a necessity?

The right to free transportation may be an indicator of a social state.

But what is normalizing active field work until 69 an indicator of?

A labor shortage?

Insufficient pension income?

Or the silent acceptance of a “work as long as you can” policy?

The real problem here is not the age limit.

It is how age is defined.

The same system tells a citizen both “you are now elderly,”

and “but if you can work, keep going.”

This is not social policy;

it is an economic balancing reflex.

The age limit is 69.

There is a speed limit.

But there is no limit to the cost of living.

And some grandfathers are delivering packages instead of telling fairy tales to their grandchildren.