Istanbul's taxi drivers, who have made headlines in the past due to their violation of traffic rules and inappropriate behavior with passengers, continue to rack up fines for their violations.
According to the information compiled by an Anadolu Agency (AA) correspondent from the data of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's (IBB) Public Transportation Services Directorate, 18,395 taxis were working in the city in 2022 and 54,395 drivers worked in these taxis. Many were reported to be notoriously rude to passengers and a number of complaints were received, including those related to drivers rejecting customers planning to only travel short distances.
Last year, inspections were carried out at 1,560 different points by the teams of the Public Transportation Services Directorate. In total, there were 80,127 complaints about taxis carrying passengers in the metropolis. Some 44,129 of the complaints were about "fares and choosing passengers," which are among the most common complaints against thousands of taxi drivers in Istanbul, the most populated city of Türkiye. Customers claim drivers ask them where they would like to travel before they get into the vehicle. If they do not plan to travel a long distance, the driver comes up with excuses not to take them or flat out refuses the customers. Likewise, 7,781 of the complaints were about "being rude to passengers," and 6,948 of them were about "extra charges."
Other complaints include 6,659 for "violation of traffic rules," 3,435 for "taking the passenger via a longer route," 3,315 for "not taking passengers for short distances" and 2,301 complaints about not opening the taximeter. According to the survey conducted in Istanbul, some 5 million people take taxis in the city, while those who prefer not to take them cited high prices as the main reason.
As a result of inspections and complaints, 2,048 taxis in Istanbul were fined TL 212,650 ($11,312) in 2022.
Most people believe that an updated system for taxis could resolve most problems related to the services. Although a handful of apps are currently available for hitching a taxi ride in Istanbul, drivers continue to violate the laws.
On the other hand, minibuses that violated traffic rules also faced fines and thousands of complaints. In Istanbul, 5,709 minibuses serve on 163 minibus lines and 443 routes. Some 11,579 inspections of minibuses were carried out by IBB teams in 2022. The teams issued fines to 11,860 minibus drivers that violated the rules last year, including for "violations of traffic rules," 6,396 for "not stopping to pick up passengers," 2,779 for "violation of routes" and 881 complaints about drivers "smoking inside the vehicle.