IETT statement regarding the strike by Private Public Buses

Göksel Ovacık, President of the Istanbul Private Public Bus Tradesmen's Chamber, announced that they would not be operating today, alleging that they have not received payments from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Stating that the protest would involve grounding 3,041 vehicles, Göksel Ovacık claimed in his statement, "As you know, we have spent the 4th month without receiving payment. We were given a commitment. It was said that 500 million would be paid on the 15th of the month. However, when we reached May 15th, this amount was not paid."

The statement issued by IETT is as follows:

"In Istanbul, IETT operates a total of 64,000 trips per day with 6,786 vehicles—3,766 of which are in IETT's own fleet and 3,020 in the Private Public Bus fleet—covering 1 million 400 thousand km and carrying out approximately 5 million journeys. In December 2020, the 'Private Transportation Operating System' (ÖTİS) was launched for Private Public Buses by the decision of the Istanbul Metropolitan Council.

In the period between December 2020, when the system was launched, and April 2025, the revenue generated from journeys by Private Public Buses amounted to 15.8 billion TL, while the total payment made by the IMM during this period reached 35.3 billion TL.

Thus, the IMM has provided additional support totaling 19.5 billion TL for Private Public Buses. In 2024 alone, 1 billion 300 million TL in support payments were made for vehicle renewals.

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and IETT continue their work in harmony and cooperation with all stakeholders. The progress payments for Private Public Buses are also paid by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

In this direction;

Payments for Private Public Buses have been rescheduled starting from June 1, 2025, and plans have been made to create all alternative measures, including changing the current system.

Despite all these improvements and support provided by the IMM and IETT, and the payment plan offered, a series of measures such as necessary additional services and route planning have been taken by the IMM and IETT to ensure that Istanbul residents are minimally affected by the potential protest announced by the Private Public Buses.

We remind Istanbul residents to act according to the current situation when making their transportation plans for Thursday, May 22, and we respectfully announce to the public that all updates regarding developments will be made regularly and instantly through the official communication channels of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and IETT."

News Source: 12punto