IMM initiated a civil police inspection for taxis in Istanbul's prestige squares and tourism regions. As a result of these inspections, a total of 10 vehicles, especially vehicles that do not take passengers in short distances, were fined 392 TL per person; the permits were suspended for 10 days, and the taxi drivers' commercial transportation vehicle usage certificates were suspended for 20 days. The inspections of IMM's civil police teams will continue uninterruptedly from now on. At certain points, a foreign language will be spoken in taxis, and they will be taken like tourists.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Police Department initiated inspections with civilian teams for taxi drivers who did not comply with the rules by attempting to collect excess fees by not taking passengers in a short distance. Due to the increase of complaints coming to Alo 153 Beyaz Masa Call Center and Presidential Communication Center (CİMER) recently, IMM went under inspection. These inspections, carried out by civilian teams affiliated to the European Side Traffic Police Department, were especially concentrated in Istanbul's prestige squares and tourism regions.
130 TAXI INSPECTED
During the audits, attention was paid to issues such as engaging in activities that would harm Istanbul's tourism brand, selecting passengers and victimizing citizens for short distances. The teams inspected a total of 130 vehicles. Vezneciler, especially the Istanbul Bus Station, fined the related persons of a total of 10 vehicles in Yenikapı, Beyazıt, Taksim, Sirkeci and Eminönü. The most common mistake the civilian teams faced during the inspections was not taking passengers in a short distance.
WORK PERMIT OF TAXI IS SUSPENDED FOR 10 DAYS
Police teams imposed an administrative penalty of 392 lira per person during the inspections. However, the punishment for victimizing citizens did not end there. Following the inspections, IMM Directorate of Public Transportation Services (TUHIM) was also commissioned. The work permits of the vehicles that were inspected through the Public Transportation Service Quality Assessment System (TUDES) were suspended for 10 days, and the commercial transportation vehicle usage certificates of the taxi drivers for 20 days. Thus, vehicles that were penalized became inoperable for at least 10 days.
CIVIL TEAMS WILL MAKE INSPECTION AS TOURIST
Engin Ulusoy, head of the IMM Police Department, made the following assessment about these inspections carried out by the civil police:
“There have been complaints about this since the past; however, there were problems in proving the customer's complaints and accordingly punishing them. When the complaints increased, we formed civilian teams to solve the problem. We send our civil police teams to inspections in different parts of Istanbul, such as one person or a couple, if necessary, a friend. Whatever the provision in the legislation is processed accordingly. We think these methods are deterrent and effective. After that, we will carry out inspections with foreign language speaking teams in a tourist view. We will continue these inspections through our civilian personnel at every point and in every field with intense complaints. It received very positive reactions from the society as well. We are asked to make it permanent. Because the complaints about this issue started to increase. Of course, we also have a request from the taxi trades. This means that they serve the customer without any discrimination, in line with the vision of Istanbul and their profession. "
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