Economic History of City Bus Management Istanbul (1927-1977)
Murat ArısalIstanbul's first encounter with buses in urban transportation began in 1927. This transportation progression, which accelerated with lessons learned from the first four buses taken for trial runs, is about to reach ten thousand buses in a century. Istanbul had relied heavily on trams for public transport when buses made their first trial runs. Since the 1950s, the city tried to move away from rail systems and worked to increase public transport with planned highways and the use of rubber-wheel vehicles. Maintaining this trend in parallel with the pace of urbanization and making it sustainable is the result. In this study, the scope of the busbusiness is discussed. This study examined a large data room volume from institutional archives and feasibility studies commissioned by specialized institutions and the performance of the bus company and its impact on the city, and numerical values in the data pool were analyzed. The economic reflections of the 50-year efficiency of the bus business between 1927-1977 were evaluated from the city and company reports.
Şehir İçi Otobüs İşletmesinin Ekonomik Tarihi İstanbul (1927-1977)
Murat Arısalİstanbul’un şehir içi ulaşımda otobüsle ilk tanışması 1927 yılında başlamıştır. Denemek için alınan dört otobüsle ilk seferlerin düzenlenmesiyle ivmelenen süreç, bir asır içerinde nerdeyse on bin otobüse ulaşmak üzeredir. Otobüslerin deneme seferlerini yaptıkları dönemde, şehrin ulaşım yükü tramvayların sırtındadır. 1950’li yılların başından itibaren ise
karayolu ağırlıklı planlamaların etkisiyle, raylı sistemlerden uzaklaşılmaya ve lastik tekerlekli araçlarla şehrin toplu ulaşım talebi karşılanmaya çalışılmıştır. Bu dönüşümün şehirleşme hızına paralel yürütülmesi ve sürdürülebilir kılınması beklenmektedir. Bu çalışma ile otobüs işletmesinin geçirdiği evreler ele alınmıştır. Kurum arşivlerinden ve İETT tarafından
uzman kuruluşlara yaptırılan fizibilite etütlerinden geniş bir veri havuzu oluşturulmuştur. Otobüs işletmesinin performansı ve şehre etkisi, veri havuzundaki sayısal değerler ışığında analiz edilmiştir. 1927-1977 yılları arasındaki otobüs işletmesinin 50 yıllık performansının ekonomik yansımaları, şehir ve şirket ölçeğinde değerlendirilmiştir.
The execution after 1950 was in the form of the reconstruction roads of Istanbul, the opening of new roads in the city and the continuation of the existing roads in accordance with the road train. This situation has greatly reduced the characteristics of high-capacity public transport vehicles, while the tire can use the wheels in the city. In fact, the general vehicle inspection rate of large passenger transportation vehicles such as trams, buses and trolleybuses has been restored over the years with a decreasing course.
As the tram network reached its economic life, it was not renewed and the tram lines were disabled and over time, the rails were dismantled and turned into a highway. Tram services have served Istanbul residents for 90 years on the European side and 38 years on the Anatolian side. Bus and trolleybus services were replaced by tram routes, which were gradually removed until 1960, and the public transportation activities of Istanbul were handed over to rubber-tired motor vehicles.
Out of the 268 million passengers carried by public transport in Istanbul in 1951, the share of 19.4 million passengers carried by the IETT bus company was around 7%. The increase in the population of Istanbul and its distribution within the city have led to serious changes in transportation demands. The inability of the public transportation services carried out by the
public authority to keep up with this change has had an impact on passenger preferences. Thefact that the public transportation vehicles have moved away from providing the desired comfort has pushed the citizens to other searches, including private cars.
When the average income per passenger is calculated based on the basic ticket fare, a 29% loss of income is calculated between the years 1960-1975. The income loss is caused by the reduced student fees, as well as the excess number of passengers traveling for free.
It is understood that IETT employs quite a lot of personnel. Personnel expenses constitute an important part of company expenses. Between 1967-1973, the share of personnel expenditures in operating expenses was around 69% on average. When the total number of personnel is divided by the vehicle in service, it is understood that an average of 16 personnel serve per bus. The reason this number is significantly high is due to the fact that the maintenance and repairs of the buses are done by the institution. By dividing the population data by the vehicle in service, the population ratio per bus in the enterprise is obtained. It has been calculated that this value was 6,048 people on an annual average in Istanbul between 1960 and 1973.
The fact that the vehicle fleet is quite old is the biggest factor that increases the maintenance costs. The fact that there is a fleet of various brands and models makes it difficult to manage the spare part stock. The fact that the parts required for service and maintenance are mostly procured from abroad makes the inventory cost very expensive.
Between 1960 and 1965, due to the inadequacy of public transportation vehicles, the increasing role of minibuses and minibuses caused congestion on the roads and traffic jams, as well as a decrease in the commercial speed of transportation vehicles throughout the city. Like public buses and minibuses, minibuses are public transportation vehicles that are not under the control of a single authority, do not run regularly, and are not considered to offer safe transportation services.
The gap between Istanbul's passenger demand in general and the service that the public authority can provide has been filled with minibuses and minibuses, and partially by public
buses. The inability to provide a supply in accordance with the demand in a planned manner has pushed the urban transportation system into a mixed and far from being integrated with each other. The unfair competition of minibuses and minibuses, which are not suitable for the transportation flow of the city, caused blockages on the highway and reduced commercial
speed, as well as reduced the income of the public authority. Leaving aside the rail systems and leaving the burden of transportation to rubber-tired vehicles alone has left Istanbul faced with huge problems. After the 1950s, the city had to deal with the huge burden of rubbertired vehicles and the huge problems it brought.
