There has been a need to inform the public correctly in recent days, following the news in some media outlets that the garages of the Istanbul Electric Tram and Tunnel Operations (IETT), affiliated with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, have “turned into a bus cemetery.” These claims do not reflect the truth and are part of a malicious perception operation targeting our institution.
IETT is a well-established organization with one of the largest bus fleets in the world. It provides uninterrupted public transportation service to millions of Istanbulites by organizing an average of 64 thousand trips daily. During the execution of such a large operation, it is a very natural and decades-long practice for vehicles that have been involved in accidents, have completed their economic life or undergo periodic maintenance to be located in technical garage areas and to be temporarily parked during the afternoon hours when passenger density is low.
HalkalıThe vast majority of the vehicles in the images reflected in the press at (İkitelli Garajı) are active buses. The few vehicles in the images consist of buses that have reached the end of their useful life and are damaged. As a 154-year-old public institution, İETT acts with the responsibility of evaluating public resources in the most efficient way. All vehicles are regularly inspected by authorized technical teams and necessary procedures are carried out in accordance with the relevant legislation.
These types of approaches, which aim to mislead the public and try to portray parking areas as “cemeteries”, are deliberate perception operations aimed at damaging the reputation of our institution. İETT is regularly audited by the Court of Accounts every year and is also audited by the Ministry inspectors at certain intervals. Our institution has fulfilled its duties at the highest level, broke a historical record in 2024 by carrying 1 billion 400 million passengers and has achieved the success of being the Institution that Uses its Fleet Most Effectively according to the data of the IBBG International Bus Comparison Association.
Managing the world’s second largest bus fleet, IETT continues its work with the goal of “getting better every time”. Our institution, which has recently achieved significant successes such as a 21% increase in trips and a 23% increase in fleet, is striving to provide Istanbulites with a higher quality and more widespread public transportation service. We kindly request that the public does not believe in such misleading and malicious claims.
