ESHOT Crisis is at the Door

The service period of İzmirim Card, used in public transportation, expires in September. ESHOT's inability to prepare tender specifications for 7 months signaled transportation crisis

The fact that ESHOT, affiliated to the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, could not yet prepare the tender specifications for the smart system used in public transportation, brought to mind the crisis experienced 4 years ago. Izmir Metropolitan Municipality terminated the paper ticket application in 1999 and activated the smart fare system in urban public transportation vehicles. The application, which first started in buses, started to be used in metro, ferry, tram and İZBAN boarding over time. Since the term of service of Kent Kart company, which operates the existing system, will expire in 2015, ESHOT General Directorate has put out a tender again. This time, Cartek Company (İzmirim Kart) won the tender, covering a period of 44 months. However, when the system could not be operated in the time stipulated by the company that received the tender, the validators did not read the magnetic cards while boarding the public transportation vehicles. The trouble did not end there.

The citizen could not reload his magnetic card, the balance of which was depleted, due to the problems in the system. When the problems in the system could not be solved, the Metropolitan transported without any money in public transportation vehicles such as buses, metro, ferries, İZBAN in order to prevent public transportation from stopping. This situation caused the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality to undergo a public decision of millions of lira. In order to overcome the crisis, the Metropolitan Municipality had to return to the paper ticket application, which it abandoned 16 years ago, until the system returned to normal. In that process, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality held the former contractor Kent Kart company responsible for the events, while Kent Kart held the Metropolitan Municipality and the new contractor responsible. The dispute between the parties was brought to the judiciary.

In the meantime, ESHOT General Directorate received authorization from the Metropolitan Assembly in the session held on April 7 in order to continue the service procurement that will end on September 16 without interruption and to make the new tender, but the specification could not be finalized in the last 2.5 months. Therefore, the tender notice could not be published. The fact that the General Directorate of ESHOT has not yet been put out to tender has created a great problem for the institution.

Experts warned the ESHOT General Directorate officials to act quickly. Indicating that if the tender announcement is not published as soon as possible, a new system crisis may be encountered, the officials said, “Otherwise, a new crisis will be inevitable on 8 September.” The duration of the new operating service tender will begin on September 8. The company that won the tender will operate the smart fare collection system for 36 months. The new service period will end on August 22, 2022. – morning