We had a conversation with Dr. Özgür Soy, Head of Transportation Group of İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), about İBB’s work in public transportation, especially Şehir Hatları, green transformation efforts and projects to increase women’s employment, which are an example to the world
How does İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality invest in sustainability and the environment in its transportation investments and new projects?
The existence of public transportation is a sustainability issue in itself. When public transportation is used, a great contribution is made in terms of economic and environmental impact. For example, when we take taxis, one of the most polluting rubber-wheeled vehicles today, there are research results that show that 1 taxi takes 7 cars out of traffic. This contributes much more in buses, even more in marine vehicles, and even more in rail systems.
The subways are both electric and carry up to 2 thousand passengers at a time. There is a very large public transportation. For this reason, İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality also attaches great importance to public transportation.
In this regard, we emphasize two systems. Rail systems and marine vessels. As our President Ekrem İmamoğlu said, rail systems form the backbone of the public transportation network. Mass transportation of very large crowds is provided.
Sea transportation has a special place for İstanbul. If you count 3-4 symbols of İstanbul, one of them would be the Şehir Hatları ferry. I think it is as important for İstanbul as Galata Tower and Maiden’s Tower. Therefore, it needs to be protected. Şehir Hatları is very valuable as a love brand. It is also very important for İstanbul to be called the city of the sea. Türkiye is a country surrounded on 4 sides by the sea, and if İstanbul is the heart of Türkiye, it is very important that this city is also known as a maritime city.
There are very busy and important centers such as Eminönü, Beşiktaş, Karaköy, Kadıköy and Üsküdar in maritime transportation. There is already serious transportation on this axis. Apart from these, there is also tourist transportation. We also need to increase and develop systems such as sea taxis and sea minibuses.
Will we see the transformation of Şehir Hatları ferries as part of Green shipping?
İstanbul is the largest public maritime transportation provider in Europe. In terms of green shipping, the “Maritime Decarbonization” project aims to decarbonize the İstanbul Sea. In order to realize the project, it is very important to build ships propelled by renewable energy and/or to transform the propulsion system of the existing fleet. In this context, a feasibility report is needed in order to correctly identify the needs and make planning.
As a result of our discussions with the World Bank with our project to decarbonize the İstanbul Sea, the World Bank undertook to prepare the feasibility report of the project free of charge in cooperation with İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Şehir Hatları. Here, the first contribution to environmentalism was to increase journey ultization through optimization. When you divide the emission consumed by the number of passengers, you can reach the per capita emission amount.
Apart from these, we also prioritize the use of green fuels. We use electric vehicles and we see that methanol-fueled projects stand out within the scope of our studies. These investments need to be made at the right time and in the right place. Since İstanbul’s resources will be used, it is necessary to ensure maximum benefit.
In addition, the more you increase the share of rail systems, the greener you go. However, it is not out of the question to give up buses completely. They are also investing heavily in fuel switching projects. Finally, ARTs, which have the features of trains such as comfort, silence, safety and electric fuel, were tested on Metrobuses. It also does not need an infrastructure investment like the metro. The tests were quite successful and we are currently conducting proof of concept tests. Once these are approved, we will move on to the project design and investment planning stages. Since the fuel consumption of metrobuses is quite high, a significant saving will be achieved.
How effective have the projects on women’s employment been?
Promoting gender equality is a general policy of İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality. It should be defined as opening more job opportunities for women and removing obstacles. Even though it is İBB-wide, we have removed many more obstacles in the transportation sector and enabled women to find a space for themselves. After that, it developed spontaneously and women filled these spaces very quickly. When you look at it, the most striking example is İSPARK. There have never been any female employees in any department of İSPARK’s payroll until 2019. I am not saying parking attendants, there has never been any female employment, including in accounting and human resources. It was seen as a male environment and worked accordingly. At Şehir Hatları, no women were employed in many areas, neither as captains nor as stevedores. Thanks to the work carried out in the last five years, women seafarers were employed for the first time in the history of Şehir Hatları. Currently, there are 21 female seafarers, including 1 Sea Taxi captain. As of today, the number of female employees has reached 84, increasing female employment by 295 percent.
Şehir Hatları’s efforts to increase women’s employment in line with its vision of gender equality attracted the attention of the French Development Agency (AFD) and became the project coordinator and implementer of the “Gender Equality in the Transportation Sector” grant in İstanbul. With this grant, efforts will be made to employ more women in maritime transportation. The target is to employ more women in the maritime sector, shipyards, ships, sea taxis, sea minibuses.
In Metro İstanbul, 1 out of 3 train drivers is a woman
This situation actually requires a huge transformation. It requires a cultural transformation. Workplaces need to be organized according to women, cultural change is required in many areas. This cultural change is actually a very positive change. When women enter the company at a significant rate, it becomes a place where creativity improves, innovation increases and business focus increases. It really becomes a workplace. These are things we love to do.
Since transportation is an untouched area in this regard, the change has been much more effective. We took many steps in sea transportation thanks to the support we received. In the subway, we are proud to say that 1 out of 3 train drivers is a woman. There are very few metro companies in the world that can say this. It is a very important rate. Thanks to these efforts, Metro İstanbul was deemed worthy of the European Region Jury Special Award in the Diversity and Inclusion-Gender Equality category by the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) in 2022.
We have also provided women’s employment in places such as shipyards and workshops where women were not working in any way. Women came and succeeded in these places and were promoted. We have maintenance chiefs. We don’t have a maintenance manager yet, but we are waiting for one.
How has the feedback been?
The feedback has been very good. Women in Türkiye do not even prefer to take this training because they cannot find the opportunity to work in a technical sense. First of all, they restrict themselves. We are trying to break this. We try to encourage women to receive training by frequently announcing our employment projects in these fields. We also provide technical trainings.
On the Metro side, we put 400 female high school students through a technical training program. This is a project we realized with the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). We provide trainings in areas that are related to the subway, but not specific to the subway. One of them is repair of card reading systems. At the end of this training, they will be entitled to receive a certificate that is valid worldwide.
We have seen the first impact of our projects to increase women’s employment in applications. For example, the rate of women’s applications to Metro İstanbul, which was around 5 percent, increased to over 40 percent.
What are the new investments for intermodal connection in public transportation?
Integration of transportation is one of the most important issues in our second term. We are working on projects such as easy transition between modes without any disconnection and integrating the fare tariff into this. Working on a single fare based on distance and planning the journey very easily through this. Choosing the cheapest, shortest or the mode of transportation that includes the sea. We are investigating projects such as planning all modes and supporting the sea in Bosphorus crossings.
Will İBB use artificial intelligence applications?
There are two types of distinction in this regard. One is generative AI and the other is Machine learning. We have already started using AI in İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality. We have a digital twin project. We are working with Autodesk and we are creating a digital twin by creating a 3D model of the metro stations. We have started this especially on one of our lines. The next step is to monitor everything in the subway with artificial intelligence. In this way, we will make significant contributions in terms of savings and efficiency.
We are also working on an artificial intelligence-based transportation assistant. When people want to go from one place to another via a smart app, it will provide a transportation road map with different criteria such as the cheapest, fastest or sea connection.
How did the sea taxi and sea bus projects contribute?
Sea taxi was a need. There are two coasts and islands along the Marmara Sea. Even though we have services to these regions, we needed a vehicle where people can go to the routes they want at the times they want.
Sea Bushes were produced to be used instead of large vehicles in areas where the number of passengers is limited. Both environmental and cost advantages are quite high. It will cover its own costs in a very short time.
The production of 7 Sea Bus in the first stage to be used in public transportation services started at Haliç Shipyard in March 2024. A total of 65 people took part in the construction of the Sea Bus, the production and design of which is entirely owned by Haliç Shipyard. The production of 4 Sea Bus has been completed. The production of the others is planned to be completed by the end of the year. The finished Sea Dolmuşs have started to operate on the Istinye-Küçüksu Line. Soon they will also start running on the Beykoz-Sarıyer line.
With the use of 7 Sea Dolmuşs, which are produced to reduce operating costs, on routes with low passenger density, İBB will save approximately 120 million TL annually with June 2024 data, and will provide a return on its investment in Sea Dolmuşs in a short period of 9 months.
Do you have any new projects for the historic Haliç Shipyard?
The Haliç Shipyard continues to operate actively. It was also decided to preserve it as a shipyard. We are talking about the oldest active shipyard in the world. This place has also turned into a cultural center. We also want to open a maritime museum here. A naval museum together with a living shipyard will be very valuable.
Who is Dr. Özgür Soy?
Born in 1970, Dr. Özgür Soy was educated at the German High School, graduated from Boğaziçi University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and received a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from INSEAD. He also completed the Port Management Certificate Program with the scholarship awarded by the Singapore Government under the Singapore Cooperation Program.
Dr. Soy received a PhD in Maritime Transportation from İstanbul Technical University. He has worked in management roles in companies such as Kumport, Procter & Gamble, DHL, Schneider Electric, Arçelik, Borusan Logistics, Trenkwalder, taught International Logistics Management courses at Yeditepe University and Uludağ University, and participated as a speaker in many conferences in Türkiye, Europe and the Middle East.
As of February 13, 2020, Dr. Özgür Soy was appointed as the General Manager of Metro İstanbul, İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, and he is also the Head of İBB Transportation Group.
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