Private public bus owners protest against IMM: 'We will shut down operations if problems are not solved'

Private public bus owners gathered in front of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's building in Saraçhane, claiming that they have not been able to receive their payments from the IMM.

Speaking on behalf of the group, lawyer Erhan Güneş, spokesperson for the Private Public Bus Platform, said that they are no longer able to conduct business due to the failure to make payments.

Stating that they would resort to shutting down operations if the problems are not resolved, as they have found no other solution, Güneş said, "We can no longer keep our wheels turning. We cannot provide money for our homes, our children in any way. There is no one left among the tradesmen whose commercial credit record has not been ruined."

Güneş argued that IMM officials have been stalling them for months and have not kept the promises they made to resolve the issues.

"IETT GENERAL DIRECTORATE DOES NOT APPLY TÜVTÜRK INSPECTION CRITERIA"

Expressing that the IETT General Directorate is exerting psychological pressure on them and applying its own inspection criteria, Güneş spoke as follows:

"We are tired of the psychological pressure and mobbing from the IETT General Directorate. First of all, TÜVTÜRK inspection criteria are not applied at the IETT General Directorate. The IETT General Manager has created 240 inspection criteria specific to himself. These 240 inspection criteria are conditions that are not in our guidelines or technical specifications. He pulls our vehicles to his own inspection stations. At the inspection stations, he cuts the hours of the vehicles for unnecessary defects that do not endanger life and property safety. Because he cuts the hours of our vehicles, they are banned from service. The people of Istanbul are being victimized here. We are also being victimized. The IETT General Directorate must put an end to this mobbing immediately."

ALLEGATION THAT "THE IETT GENERAL MANAGER IS SUBJECTING US TO ROLL CALLS"

Güneş claimed that the IETT General Manager has a military background and subjects them to a form of roll call morning and evening.

Emphasizing that the IETT General Manager is trying every way to get minimum service from the bus fleet, Güneş noted the following:

"Because the IETT General Manager has a military background, he is trying to operate us like a morning and evening roll call. This is a commercial enterprise. One tries to get maximum efficiency from the fleet. Our General Manager is trying to get minimum efficiency from the fleet. When he cuts the vehicle's hours, it is for no reason. There is no defect. There is no defect that would endanger life and property safety. He cuts the vehicle's hours. What happens? The people of Istanbul are victimized. I believe that the IETT General Directorate is doing this intentionally to Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu. We are not here for our own pleasure. Our request from the people of Istanbul is to hear our voice as soon as possible. The 3,041 vehicles have receivables close to 5 billion liras. We want our payments. Everyone who voted for you and those who did not are here. Mr. Mayor, please, there are AK Party members here, MHP members here, DEM Party members here, and CHP members here. Please solve this problem of ours as soon as possible. These problems of ours must be solved. If the problems are not solved, we will shut down operations."