Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu Became The First Mayor To Talk On The World Bank Round Table

İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mr.Ekrem İmamoğlu became the first mayor to talk on the World Bank’s Round Table. City Lines General Manager Sinem Dedetaş also attended and talked in the event.

Full text of Mr.İmamoğlu’s speech:

Dear Vice President, honourable colleagues,

First of all I am very happy to share experience of İstanbul with you today in this important ground table event.

The Covid-19 pandemic which affects all areas of life also changes the routines expectations and priorities of public transportation. For example infection risk has become one of the most important parameters for people’s choice of public transportation. That’s why we have seen an increase in private car ownership and usage in İstanbul as much as everywhereelse but on the other hand due to economic problems caused by the pandemic, the need for affordable public transportation is also on the rise. Although we have some ideas for the new normal of public transportation, it still remains unclear how this area will evolve. For example we do not know exactly how to increase remote working will affect public transportation or how micro mobility vehicles will technologically evolve but we know one thing for sure: from now on public transportation should be hygiened and people oriented that the solutions developed in response to the pandemic provide hints about the future of transportation in İstanbul we have tackled the issue of transportation through the following 6 points:

Raise awareness about the pandemic. To this end starting from March 2020, we ran campaigns about pandemic precautions through the urban areas and communication channels at our disposal. These campaigns still continue today to convince İstanbulites who are indecisive or hesitant about vaccination.
To increase the hygiene standards of public transportation. To achieve this a total 100 stationary and mobile crews regulary disinfected transport vehicles in İstanbul. We provided masks free of charge to the drivers of the vehicles. While we monitored whether our citizens wear masks on public transportation vehicles and at bus stops. We also distributed hundreds of thousands of masks free of charge to commuters in İstanbul. We monitored passangers’ temperatures through termal cameras in metro stations and crowded bus stops. We launched a mobile application that allows us to track the health status of the drivers. We also set up a system that matches the personal information of citizens with their istanbulcards banning them from using public transportation if they are sick or infected with the virus. We added a remote sensor system to the assessable pedestrian button which does not require a physical push to help pedestrians stay safe at crossings. We also made public transportation free of charge to all healthcare workers during the pandemic.
We provided economic support to private sector entrepreneurs who are service providers in public transportation. We gave out stuff and fuel subsidies to private, public and sea transportation operators. By bringing privately owned city busses under the umbrella of IMM we secured the income of their owners and drivers.

Next we supported alternative transportation options in line with citizens health concerns. For this purpose increasing the share of bicycle and sea transportation has become our priority. In areas where public transportation is used for short distance journeys we built pop-up bicycle routes. By investing in the smart bikes sharing system we launched a program to double the number of bicycles and bike stops in İstanbul within 2 years. As sea transportation holds significant advantages to minimize the risk of Covid-19 transmission we took steps to expand it in İstanbul. For example we made it possible for citizens to use ferries for under 1 cent between 10:00 in the morning and 16:00 in the afternoon during the summer months. We started manifacturing 50 sea taxis in our shipyards to be used in sea transportation.
We prioritized the design of parklet areas as pedestrian stops to encourage walking short distances. We can see that there will be a great demand in the coming period for these areas which are designed to provide public spaces for the people where existing pavements wids are narrow.
We founded the İstanbul Transportation Platform to establish a participatory and inclusive vision for İstanbul in the field of transportation and to make it sustainable. İstanbul Transportation Platform cares about stakeholder and citizen participation and IMM undertakes the role of facilitator for this platform to have a democratic and inclusive structure.

We also aim to establish and activate mechanism that reinforce the participation of commiters who are directly affected by transportation policies and practices. All these actions that we took, show that public transportation will continue to be a very important topic in the coming days. Transportation is a subject that closely concerns the daily life of every citizen and every visitor in the city and covers all sectors from logistics to tourism, from industrial production to agricultural production. This issue grows even more complex with health and hygiene related concerns and increasing environmental sensitivity. Finding the right solutions in this intricate domain can only be possible with collective thinking and participatory models. Therefore we have to maximize cooperation at all levels. This cooperation should not be confined only within the city. But it should take place between cities and nations too. Even though we live in different locations we share a connected life on the same planet. While ending my words I would like to thank Vice President of Infrastructure Mr.Makhtar Diop for organizing this timely event. Thank you for listening and looking forward to a period of increased cooperation between our cities.