Inflation is breaking historic records in Turkey and fuel prices are skyrocketing. In Istanbul, many people who are unable to pay for their fuel are abandoning the car in favor of public transport and other means of transport.
In Turkey, inflation reached 80.2% in August in annual comparison. The rise in prices in the transport sector soared to +117%. For a year and a half, the price of gasoline has tripled in the country. “Before, it increased every week. Now it’s every 24 hours!”, Gets angry Bülent, a taxi driver in Istanbul, at the microphone of the RTS program Tout un monde.
“When I go to the gas station, I only put in a few liters of gasoline at a time. I try to drive less, I can no longer afford it. Fuel has become a luxury,” he adds. -he.
The Turkish state levies more than 25% tax for each liter of gasoline. And this rate has been climbing in recent months. The price of fuel evolves according to that of oil, the imports of which cover more than 90% of the country’s needs, and the price of the Turkish lira against the dollar, which has been collapsing for a year due to the monetary choices of the government.
Inflation in Turkey : Privileged public transport and soft mobility
Refueling having become too expensive, more and more Turks are learning to live without a car, which they are forced to abandon, and prefer public transport or walking. In an Ipsos poll published at the end of July, nine out of ten motorists say they have used their vehicle less recently due to rising fuel prices. More than seven in ten say they now get to work by public transport, whereas they used to take their car.
In Istanbul, the statistics of the town hall confirm the trends of the polls. Between June 2021 and May 2022, the number of passengers in Istanbul’s transport – this includes buses, trams, boats and metros – jumped by 67%. Istanbulites thus favor municipal transport, which is cheaper than the car, even if its cost itself has increased by 36% in 2022.
The explosion in fuel prices and general inflation in Turkey are also pushing some Turks to sell their cars, or even, for a small part of them, to give up all forms of motorized vehicles.
“Everything was getting too expensive, I couldn’t manage it anymore, so I sold my car and bought a bike,” says Adem, a veterinary technician, who now pedals an hour and a half every day between his home and his workplace. “If I still traveled by car, it would cost me 2000 pounds a month just for gasoline. Whereas here, it’s free!”
Most experts in the country, however, remain cautious about the extent of the changes underway and their sustainability. Orhan Demir, recently former Deputy Secretary General in charge of transport at the Istanbul City Hall, recognizes a temporary increase in the interest shown by the Turks for public transport. But according to him, the car still has a bright future ahead of it.
“In Istanbul, there are 200 cars per thousand inhabitants, compared to 500 or 600 in cities like Paris, Berlin or London. We can therefore assume that Istanbul has not reached its maximum ratio”, he estimates. And to add: “The increase in fuel prices may have had the effect of countering the daily habit of the car and encouraging the use of public transport, but for the effect to be lasting, it The transport network must follow, both in number of vehicles and in integration”.
However, the public transport network in this megalopolis of at least 16 million inhabitants is still insufficient and poorly organized. “With a few exceptions, you always get to your destination faster by car than by public transport. The cost of a trip is not only a matter of price, but also a matter of time. It is depending on that everyone chooses their mode of transport”, underlines Orhan Demir.
In this context, the Turkish town halls have to deal with the obstacles set up by the central power, while inflation in Turkey is already weighing on the budget of the municipalities. In Istanbul, for example, the mayor has been waiting for nine months for the government to agree to a credit of 75 million euros from the European Bank for the reconstruction and development of the network.