İZBAN asks for its loss from ESHOT

İZBAN asks for its loss from ESHOT: İZBAN sent a letter to ESHOT General Directorate to pay for the damage caused by 1 million 800 thousand passengers free of charge during the card crisis.

After Kentkart Company, which has been providing electronic contactless smart card service in Izmir for 16 years, lost the tender held in January, KARTEK Company started operating the system as of June 1. The highly anticipated transition period started with pain. Validators either never read the city cards of Izmir residents who wanted to get on the bus, subway and ferry, who left their house to go to work or school in the early hours of the morning, or did not allow passage on the grounds of “insufficient balance”. Boredom was not limited to this. Could not load money on cards in automatic loading machines. During that period, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality made free boarding in İZBAN, which is jointly operated with TCDD, with buses, metro and ferries carrying passengers in the inner gulf. Izmir residents who do not read cards on the turnstiles benefitted from free public transportation between 1-10 June. The free use of public transportation vehicles, which is used by 1 million 800 thousand passengers every day, brought with it discussions on public damage.

EXPENSES
With the loss of the tender held in January by the Kent Card Company, which has been operating the electronic fare collection system used for boarding public transportation vehicles in Izmir for 16 years, the financial portrait of the chaos experienced in the previous June has gradually become clear. İZBAN A.Ş, established by İzmir Metropolitan Municipality with TCDD in a 50 percent partnership, requested the General Directorate of ESHOT to be paid for the damage caused by the free use of the public transportation service for 1 million 800 thousand passengers during the chaos. In the letter sent to the General Directorate of ESHOT in accordance with the decision taken by the İZBAN Board of Directors, it was stated that if the said damage is not compensated, legal compensation will be applied. Those who wanted their money were not limited to this. According to the information obtained, İzmir Metro A.Ş, which makes use of the same pool outside İZBAN and carries passengers in the inner gulf with İZDENİZ, which is one of the companies of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, and İzmir Metro A.Ş. It was claimed that only IZBAN will receive from ESHOT around 3.3 million lira.

PAPER PASSED TO TICKETS
The Metropolitan Municipality returned to the paper ticket application after a short period of 16 years to overcome the distressed process. The crisis continued for a while, then returned to normal with the system slowly settling.