Several metropolitan municipalities in Türkiye, starting from Antalya and the capital Ankara, recently announced a significant hike in public transportation fees. At the same time, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) signaled a possible hike for its mass transit passes.
Antalya Metropolitan Municipality decided to increase public transportation fares by 56% on average during the meeting of the transport watchdog Transportation Coordination Center (UKOME) on Wednesday. In line with the decision taken at the meeting attended by representatives from many institutions and organizations, the boarding pass for public vehicles, which is currently TL 9.60 ($0.36), will increase to TL 15 for the full ticket, while the students' fee will see a rise from TL 4 to TL 6.50 respectively.
The new price fixtures including a hike in fees for special cards for teachers and the elderly are said to be valid starting from July 20, according to the local media reports. However, the municipality didn't announce an increase in taxi fares, which last saw an increase in prices at 25% overall last month.
Evaluating the decision, Yasin Arslan, the president of Antalya Bus Companies Chamber, said: “The UKOME meeting is over. The hike in prices will start applying as of tomorrow. We demanded TL 17. With the recent price hikes, our costs have also increased a lot. We would like to thank our Metropolitan Mayor Muhittin Böcek. We will continue to carry our citizens by pushing the conditions to the end. We will not make them suffer.”
Similarly, Ankara Metropolitan Municipality (ABB) earlier this week revealed a hike in public transport fees of around 57%, citing the new decision will take effect as of July 24, 2023.
According to the statement from the municipality, the new fares are determined as TL 15 for the full ticket instead of the prior TL 9.50, and TL 7.50 for a student ticket instead of the current TL 4.75. Meanwhile, the unlimited monthly student subscription will see a rise from TL 140 to TL 220, as per Anadolu Agency (AA) reports.
A statement by the municipality said that EGO General Directorate buses, whose businesses witnessed increasing deficits, still provide service either for free or deductible fees for four out of 10 passengers. They also cited that their passenger prices per kilometer had remained below average, which stood at TL 0.26, well below the TL 0.38 recorded in 30 other metropolitan municipalities.
"Our student rate, which was implemented in 2019, is still the cheapest monthly student subscription rate in Türkiye. With this price increase, it will be possible to cover some of the losses of the EGO General Directorate, which totals TL 300 million ($11.1 million) per month," the municipality's statement said.
Meanwhile, highlighting the importance of public transport services in megacities such as Istanbul, the metropolis's mayor, Ekrem Imamoğlu, in his speech delivered Wednesday indicated that Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) is contemplating raising fees for its electronic mass transit pass that covers all means of public transport – from buses and subways to ferries operating between the two sides of the Bosporus.
The country's most populated city where mass vehicles are widely used in the face of frustrating traffic saw a massive hike in prices at the start of the year when commuters in Istanbul faced a rise in full ticket fees from TL 7.60 to TL 9.90. Earlier in 2022, the municipality's transportation body implemented two raises, in February and April, respectively.
Alongside the land transport fee hikes, Turkish airline companies have also agreed to increase the ticket price ceiling. According to a report Wednesday compiled by Yeni Şafak daily, with the regulation made by the General Directorate of Civil Aviation, the maximum fare applied to domestic flight tickets was revised with an increase of approximately 43%. In this regard, the companies began to sell tickets starting from TL 1,650 for domestic flights.
Travelers generally face exorbitant prices during summertime and holidays as high demand drives prices up.
Amid global turmoil in energy prices over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and due to its energy dependence and exchange rate volatility, Türkiye is affected even more by global prices.
