İstanbul'daki taksi sorununa genel bir bakış ve çözüm önerileri
An overview of taxi problem in istanbul and suggestions for solutions
Yazar: EMREHAN BAYRAM
Danışman: PROF. DR. ALİ OSMAN ATAHAN
İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi / Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü / İnşaat Mühendisliği Ana Bilim Dalı / Ulaştırma Mühendisliği Bilim Dalı
Derece: Yüksek Lisans, 2021
Konu: Ulaşım = Transportation

Özet:
Türkiye'nin en fazla nüfusa sahip şehri olan İstanbul nitelikli insan gücü ve önemli yatırımların da toplandığı bir şehirdir. İki kıtanın birleştiği yerde bulunan İstanbul her dönemde önemli bir oranda göç aldığından nüfusu sürekli artmakta ve günümüzde İstanbul'da ulaşım en büyük sorunlardan biri haline gelmektedir. Kendi nüfusu dışında önemli bir jeopolitik konumda da bulunmasından dolayı sürekli bir yolcu transfer merkezinde bulunan metropol ve sürekli artan kentleşmenin de etkisi ile İstanbul içindeki hareketlilik de her geçen gün artmaktadır. Karayolu taşımacılığı türlerinden biri olan taksiler; noktadan noktaya taşıma yapabilmesi, talep esnekliğinin yüksek olması gibi özelliklerinden dolayı kent içi taşımacılıkta özel otomobil yerine tercih edilebilen ve toplu ulaşım sistemlerini kamu adına taşımacılık kapsamında destekleyen bir ara taşımacılık unsurudur. İstanbul'da toplu taşımacılık türleri arasında en çok karayolu kullanılırken taksi taşımacılığının oranı diğer karayolu taşımacılık türleri arasında en düşük kalmaktadır. Bunun sebepleri arasında işletme yetersizliği, taksi kullanımında verimliliğin düşük olması, taksi sayılarının azlığı gibi sebepler olabileceği düşünülmektedir. Bu nedenle İstanbul gibi bir metropolde kent içi ulaşım alternatifleri içerisinde önemi yadsınamaz bir konumda bulunan taksi taşımacılığının diğer toplu taşımacılık sistemleri ile modern ve verimli bir şekilde entegrasyonunun sağlaması gerçeği günümüzde ortaya çıkmaktadır. Taksi sisteminin geliştiği ülkeler ile kıyaslama yapıldığında İstanbul'daki taksi işletmeciliğinin zayıf olduğu görüldüğünden farklı dönemlerde yapılan anketler ve analizler kullanılarak taksi işletmeciliğinde problemlerin esas nedenleri bulunmaya çalışılmışsa da gerekli adımların atılması konusunda yeterli çabanın gösterilmediği görülmektedir.
Bu çalışmada; İstanbul'daki taksi taşımacılığının mevcut durumuna ilişkin sayısal ve alansal bilgiler, taksi kullanıcıları bilgileri, İstanbul'daki geçmiş yıllardaki taksi sayısı ile günümüzdeki taksi sayısına ilişkin karşılaştırılma bilgileri, taksi taşımacılığına alternatif taşıma türlerinin mevcut taksi taşımacılığı üzerindeki etkileri, taksi taşımacılığının verimliliğine ilişkin bilgiler ve yurt dışındaki metropollerdeki taksi sayıları ile işleyişleri derlenip, İstanbul toplu ulaşım sistemi içinde yer alan taksi taşımacılığındaki mevcut taksi sayılarının yeterli olup olmadığı hakkında sonuca varılacak ve mevcut taksi taşımacılığı sisteminin iyileştirilmesi için çözüm önerileri sunulacaktır.

Abstract:
In times to come, people will want to travel more, not only because of the population but also with the increase in mobility due to the higher quality of life. As the population of cities increases with the expectation of increasing living standards; economic, social, and environmental welfare may decrease gradually. It may be necessary to take the environment, economy, and society as a whole; manage today's resources by taking into account the needs of future generations, that is, by adopting sustainable growth; and indirectly reorganise the habits in cities. Taxis play an important role in urban passenger transportation. Thanks to its flexible usage opportunities, it is not connected to any route and is more advantageous than public transportation in terms of time and comfort. In addition, taxis are an intermediate transportation element that can be preferred instead of private cars in urban transportation due to their features such as point-to-point transportation and high demand flexibility, and that supports public transportation (transit) systems within the scope of transportation on behalf of the public.
The relationship between population and the number of taxis in metropolises varies according to the level of development. Although it is thought that the increase in the main and intermediate transportation types in public transportation would reduce the use of taxis, on the contrary, it has been found out that the increase in the use of public transportation types also increases the use of taxis. It is because the increase in the use of public transportation types increases the mobility and the increase in the use of taxis is fed by the increase in mobility. Although the management of the taxi system in the world differs according to the countries, the way it is organised is similar in all countries. These similarities are in the form of three focal points: the number of vehicles that can work as a total taxi, tariff fees and quality control practices. In cities, the legal regulations made by local governments, states or institutions which are specially determined in this field have basically two important functions. First, it is aimed - through existing regulations - to ensure the safety of drivers, passengers, and other actors in traffic in urban transportation and to increase the level of service. However, it is stated that the second and most important function of the regulations is to bring the public benefit dimension of taxi transportation, which is an urban transportation service, and the dimension of individual business requirements into a common denominator. In this context, it is aimed to establish a balance between the implementation of a transportation model that is economical and has certain service standards for passengers and a business model that will ensure the continuity of a sufficient level of income for the drivers.
Taxi transportation started in the early 20th century in Turkey, and the widespread use of taxis took place at the end of the 20th century. Since there were no restrictions on the entry of taxis into the market at the beginning, the number of taxis in big cities increased excessively. Since this increase in the number of taxis increased the
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competition in the market, it caused a decrease in the tariffs, which resulted in a decrease in the income levels of the taxi drivers. With the decision taken in July 1983, taximeters were required for taxis and thus an equal pricing policy was tried to be followed.
Istanbul is not only the most populated city in Turkey but also such a city where both qualified workforce and important investments are gathered. Since Istanbul, located at the junction of two continents, always receives a significant number of immigrants, its population is constantly increasing and transportation in Istanbul becomes one of the biggest problems at present. Due to being in an important geopolitical location apart from its own population, the metropolis continuously appears in a passenger transfer centre. Furthermore, with the effect of ever-increasing urbanisation, the mobility in Istanbul is increasing day by day. As being one of the types of road transport, taxis can be used for point-to-point transportation and can be featured thanks to their high demand flexibility. For these reasons, taxis are an intermediate transportation element that can be preferred instead of private cars in urban transportation and supports public transportation systems on behalf of the public.
According to the passenger transportation types in Istanbul, the current transportation types can be classified into three groups as road, rail systems and sea transportation. According to 2019 data, the share of road transportation is 77.1%, rail transportation is 18.6%, and the share of sea transportation is 4.3%. Taxi and taxi cabs have a share of 9.3% in road transportation. Currently, 17,395 taxis in Istanbul operate with a temporary working license obtained from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Public Transportation Services Directorate. In addition, there are also 620 taxis for New Istanbul Airport passengers.
Although road transport is the most used type of public transportation in Istanbul, the rate of taxi transportation is the lowest among other types of road transport. It is thought that the reasons why the rate is so low could be the inadequacy of their operation, low efficiency in the use of taxis and the limited number of taxis. Therefore, it is a crystal-clear fact that taxi transportation should be neoterically and efficiently integrated with other public transportation systems since it has undeniable importance among urban transportation alternatives in a metropolis like Istanbul. When compared with the countries where their taxi system is well-developed, it is apparent that taxi management in Istanbul is weak. Although the main causes of the problems in taxi management have been tried to be found by using the surveys and analysis made in different periods, it is seen that enough effort to take the necessary steps has not been made.
Transportation applications such as Uber and Lyft, which are organised over smartphone applications and are substitutes for the services offered by taxis in urban transportation, have led to the emergence of an important competitive field. Among them, it is necessary to dwell on Uber in particular. It is because Uber, which is a transportation application operating at the global level, has become the worldwide face of the competition between the existing transportation actors and the new transportation actors that emerged due to the development of technology in urban transportation. The opportunities offered by Uber in urban transportation go beyond traditional taxi transportation, allowing various forms of urban transportation to be provided, from forms that operate like taxis to minibus-like vehicles for groups and the creation of car-sharing systems. Uber, whose effectiveness has been observed in Turkey since 2014, has made a significant impact on working relations in taxis. Uber, which is a working system through a mobile application, creates competition for taxi transportation in urban transportation, therefore it has also had a direct impact on the market of taxi plates. As it offers an alternative transportation system, it affects the existing customer potential, narrows the customer pool, and directly causes a decrease in earnings. Operating in Turkey since 2014, Uber terminated its operating model which was described as "UberXL" and which is an alternative to taxis, as of May 31, 2019; however, formally operating taxis continued to operate as registered with Uber. Access to Uber, whose activities have been suspended, has been completely blocked as of December 22, 2019.
The problems experienced in the forms examined in urban transportation in Istanbul point to the whole of the problems related to the structural functioning, rather than just the inadequacy of the service quality. The process experienced by professional organizations operating in urban transportation, and especially the approach to the problems caused by drivers, is considered as a professional competence problem, and the main source of the problem, the operating mechanism, is ignored.
Uber continues to operate in different countries around the world. The example of Uber has created a new field of discussion because it is a technologically intelligent transportation model and a new alternative to taxi transportation. With the arrival of Uber in Istanbul, the number of passengers in taxi transportation decreased significantly and there were sudden decreases in plate prices. At the same time, the presence of Uber has had a regulatory effect on existing taxis. This situation also reveals the impact of new types of transportation on existing transportation. Among the reasons why passengers prefer Uber, the most important reasons are that they can easily reach them whenever they want, they know what to pay for the price, and the vehicles are comfortable and safe.
Determining the number of taxi vehicles is a multi-parameter problem. While determining the taxi need, first of all, the adequacy of public transportation services should be checked; the examples of taxis in the world should be examined; the possible effects of the rail system investments which are planned for Istanbul and whose construction activities continue on the taxi business should be investigated and necessary technical and financial analyses should be made. Then, all parameters such as the number of taxis per capita, usage efficiency, the effects of alternative transportation systems, the topographic structure of the city, economic factors such as the income status of the people, demographic relations, the structure of the Istanbul taxi market, and monopolization tendencies should be included in the evaluation as a holistic.
Istanbul differs from other cities of Turkey in terms of its population density, geographical structure, characteristics of the public transportation system, road infrastructure, etc. While planning taxi needs within the scope of transportation on behalf of the public, many factors such as welfare level, public transportation policies of local governments, tourism potential of the city and public transportation service quality should be evaluated together with these differences.
With Sustainable City Policies, which are stated in this paper, in reducing the problems experienced in the current taxi system throughout Istanbul, eliminating the problems and catching transportation at World and European standards; it should be aimed to establish a taxi system that can be integrated with the current and future public transportation system, that respects the environment and is sustainable, that uses the
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existing road infrastructure effectively, and that is efficient and innovative in terms of fuel consumption, safe and reliable for both passengers and drivers.
In this comprehensive study; by revealing and compiling the numerical and spatial information on the current situation of taxi transportation in Istanbul, the general information on taxi users, the comparative information on the number of taxis in Istanbul in the past years and in the present day, the effects of alternative modes of transport to taxi transport on existing taxi transport, information on the efficiency of taxi transportation and the number of taxis in metropolises abroad and their functioning, it will be concluded whether the current number of taxis in the taxi transportation within the Istanbul public transportation system is sufficient or not, and proposed solutions will be presented for the improvement of the existing taxi transportation system.