
Antalya Nostalgic Tram was leased. Antalya Nostalgic Tram, which is owned by Antalya Metropolitan Municipality, was leased to the municipality company, Ulaşım AŞ, for 5 years. In the December continuation meeting of Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Council, the issue of leasing Antalya Nostalgic Tram operating on the Zerdalilik-Museum line to the municipality company, Ulaşım AŞ, was discussed. While the AKP group opposed this transaction, the group spokesman Murtaza Tamyürek’s comment, “There seems to be no illegality, but we do not agree because these things are a bit complicated,” caused Mayor Mustafa Akaydın to react.
Responding to Tamyürek's comment, President Akaydın said, “Mixed business means an approach like 'if we're going to get into trouble, let it be yours'. I do not like this to your group. We went out to tender for it. No bidders are available for the tender. It's a system that already works. We operate a moribund system at a loss because the people of Antalya are nostalgic. We have no other choice,” he said.
In the voting, it was accepted by the majority of votes that the Antalya Nostalgic Tram, owned by the municipality, was rented from the municipality companies to Transportation Inc. for 154 years, with the votes of the CHP and MHP groups, in return for the rejection game.
Answering the questions of the journalists at the end of the assembly, President Akaydın said that they wanted to remove the Antalya Nostalgic Tram, but that they had the idea to operate it, albeit at a loss, upon the demand from the public. Reminding that they brought up the project of removing the Antalya Nostalgic Tram and running a vehicle with rubber wheels on the same route, President Akaydın said:
“There was a special trolley bus type transportation project working in a narrow area. We worked a lot on it but Antalya is a nostalgic public opinion regardless of the public opinion. They said 'Don't take us away from this tram'. It is not really easy to find a tool to work on that line. Moreover, the old one is preferred. We also tried at the Piano Festival and made a lot of premiums. That's why we say take it until it is completely unusable. It is currently hurting, but annual is not very high.