2 drivers who successfully completed the “İETT Academy”, an in-house continuous education project of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) affiliated Istanbul Electric Tramway and Tunnel Operations, graduated. The İETT Academy Graduation Ceremony was held with the participation of the Union of Turkish Municipalities (TBB) and the Mayor of İBB Ekrem İmamoğlu, was held at the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall in Harbiye. Representatives of private public bus associations serving in the transportation sector also attended the ceremony, where İmamoğlu and İETT General Manager İrfan Demet gave speeches. Emphasizing that İETT is an institution that has written history in Istanbul's past memory, İmamoğlu said, "When we look at it today, it has a very important place. I know and see that our drivers are also the face of our IMM."
“OUR TRAINING HOURS PER PERSON, WHICH WAS 2018 HOURS IN 9, HAS INCREASED TO 47 HOURS”
Stating that the number of drivers who successfully completed their training at the IETT Academy in the last two years was 2, İmamoğlu said, “This is a valuable number. I wish that these fellow travelers will continue their careers in health, accident-free, trouble-free and happy with their families after receiving this training. In 400, especially with the special efforts of my friends, the training halls were made more modern. Our friends increased our training hours per person, which was 2024 hours in 2018, fivefold and increased it to 9 hours. Our goal is for our fellow citizens to travel safely, comfortably and peacefully with IETT. In 47-2022, we will present plaques to 24 drivers who successfully completed the training program and worked 350 days or more on the IETT line. We will also thank our 24 instructors who are responsible for our 2 new drivers working within the IETT Academy from here.”
“OUR GREATEST WISH FROM YOU IS…”
Emphasizing the ancient cultures of institutions such as İETT, İSKİ and Istanbul Fire Department, İmamoğlu addressed his colleagues with the following words: “In that respect, you are actually actors of these historical values. I would like you to know that you carry a responsibility in this respect. Our greatest wish from you is to reflect the education you receive here in your professional life in the strongest way. When I see a lady and a gentleman sitting in the driver's seat at İETT, believe me, I feel as if I am there and I have a friend, a companion who makes me feel my feelings. The same goes for a brother I see working in security at the metro station. I feel the same way in all our managers, from our Secretary General to our General Manager. Because this is something that almost 90 thousand of our employees address a citizen while doing their job, their dialogue with a citizen or the quality of the service they provide to them… I want to be treated the same way I treat a person. Or, the way I want to be treated, I want everyone in this institution to treat all our citizens in the same way.”
“I AM THE TRUSTEE, YOU ARE THE PERMANENT”
Emphasizing that being a public administrator is a sacred duty that requires sacrifice, İmamoğlu briefly said the following:
“We will love people because they are people. We will love and respect people because they are our citizens, fellow citizens, and fellow townspeople. We will definitely find ways to welcome children, youth, women, everyone, and the elderly at the highest level, to work and serve them with determination, discipline, but also with love and a smile. This will also, believe me, create a happy and peaceful city. And in such a city, believe me, each of your families and homes will be strong and secure. In other words, the work you do actually has a side that reflects on your home. In this respect, I place my own duty in such a sacred place. After all, I am also a trustee. Not like you. Maybe you will serve for longer periods of time and in a more permanent way. The time of our political duty is certain. We are trustees. We will leave when the day comes. Someone else will take office.”
“THAT’S THE BEAUTIFUL SIDE OF LIFE…”
“And that is really the beautiful side of life; change of duty, renewal, this is perhaps the most beautiful side of this beautiful blessing that democracy and the republic have given us. Otherwise, being stuck in a seat, acting as if you are the owner, after a while brings spoiledness, after a while arrogance, and arrogance. God forbid. Therefore, I really want this philosophy of ours to be reflected in every line, every surface of our institution. In an environment where our city, this huge city, feels safe, feels peaceful, and knows that there is an employee who takes care of a person when they feel lonely or alone, believe me, you will contribute to the security and peace of the country and our beautiful country. This is that important. Is it that important? Yes, it is that important. Serving the people of Istanbul is that sacred and valuable. In this respect, I especially wanted to be here today.”
“TRANSPORTATION HAS BECOME VERY DIFFICULT IN TODAY’S CONDITIONS”
“Transportation has become very difficult under today’s conditions. There are two different extremes in our country. One is that we are experiencing a very expensive and very high cost period. This has never been this extreme in Turkey. You know this from your homes and your life. In other words, we have never experienced such a high cost period economically. But our country’s income has also decreased. This is unfortunately the case. We say this with sadness. Does poverty make someone happy? What does that mean? My nation’s wealth makes me happy, does poverty make me happy? What does this create for us now, especially in transportation. There are also private sector value managers here. Look; before 2019, if we were spending 100 liras on transportation, 65-70 liras of this came from tickets, we cover 30-35 liras as the institution. Right now, we are getting 30 liras from tickets in transportation, we cover 70 liras. The deficit has become huge, it has grown. Why? Because we could not increase the tickets as much as the increasing costs. Our people are poor. "It has been getting poorer in every period until today. We could not increase the tickets that much. But the costs have skyrocketed. And we are forced to transfer 100-70 liras of the XNUMX liras of the expenses, the costs, from the income coming to our coffers. Therefore, we are managing the process in a very difficult period."
“EKREM IMAMOGLU’S PERIOD TOOK A GREAT RISK”
“Sometimes my friends get upset, they have difficulty turning their wheels. I am aware of that. But here, whatever is in our budget resources… After all, I see everything that goes on the balance sheet, what is in the safe, what is given, what is not given. Therefore, no private sector institution is neglected here. Of course, we have difficulties, we have disruptions, we have delays. When I took over, I also know that I took over a period when they were a few months behind, although it was not as much of a burden as today. Our burden is very heavy today. There is also a decrease in our income and our expenses have increased. Of course, on the one hand, in order to establish a balance especially in the income of private public buses and to eliminate injustice, Ekrem İmamoğlu period took a big risk. It has put forward a system that is based on kilometres and does justice to it. In other words, on one side there is a line that earns less, on the other side there is a line that earns more; we have eliminated the 'may those who earn less die, may those who earn more have more money' principle.”
“WE COMBINES THE COLORS THEY BEAT US WITH DAY AND NIGHT”
“Plus; we also united the colors that beat us day and night. We said; ‘Let’s provide a respectable service together under the roof of İETT.’ It wasn’t like that before. It was easily said; ‘That public bus!’ Brother, we do the inspection, we do whatever.’ And I trust my tradesmen. We will solve this problem with my tradesmen,’ we said. Oh, we have experienced some minor betrayals or seen some evil. We have also detected videos being taken while the bus was burning. But we will overcome these, we will overcome these evils. Every day, every day, those who humiliate İETT, those who try to destroy İETT, in other words, those who say I lost Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu"Those who destroy it to beat it are actually insulting their own essence. For example, the President of this country was once an employee of IETT? In other words, they are insulting their own situation. Therefore, it is a shame, a sin. IETT, in our period, is more successful in many ways than in the past in terms of malfunctions and accidents, let me say that."
“A PERSON CANNOT DEGRADE AN INSTITUTION THAT BELONGS TO HIM”
“Is a perception being created? It is being created. In other words, is the news given to newspapers and televisions every day? It is. But what they are really doing wrong is the name of the institution, the name of IETT. It is a shame. Don’t do it. IETT is not mine; it is yours, all of us, the nation’s. It is a shame. A person does not belittle an institution that belongs to them. Throw our mistakes in our faces. There is no problem with that. But let’s sit down and look at the statistics. Do we have any shortcomings? We do. Do we have to do better? We have to. Do we have to catch up with them? We have to. But politics is not everything. The seat is not everything. Some people think that the seat belongs to them. First of all, we are all mortal. In other words, the other comes and goes. One day life ends. A doctor I love very much, a doctor friend whom we entrusted with our health, in other words, a doctor friend who thought he was like a stapler, went for a walk the day before and died of a heart attack. We buried him yesterday. He is gone. Therefore, life is mortal. We sometimes forget that too. "So by attacking someone, by doing this... And by doing this, we are disturbing the peace of our country. We are also doing harm to the world. Our country is in an important place. The peace of our country, our country's goodness, power, strength, solidarity, not discriminating between people, is even good for the world."
“WE WILL NOT DO EVIL EVEN TO THOSE WHO DO EVIL TO US”
“In that respect, you are in an important city. You are in an important homeland, citizen, country. We are all together under a beautiful flag. We are the children of a valuable republic, a valuable state. No matter who does evil, we will continue to do good, my brother. We will not do evil even to those who do evil to us. When the day comes, we will make them accountable before the law and justice, that’s all. We will not do evil to anyone. We will not trip anyone up. We will applaud the work done well. In that respect, a very good job has been done today. İETT has made its own employees strong, resilient, knowledgeable, and durable. Therefore, you will serve your citizens with this faithful spirit, your strong experience and education. How happy we are. It is good that you exist. It is good that we have lady drivers. We thank them. We wish them success. May their numbers increase.”
"SIR, WOMEN CANNOT DO THAT PROFESSION! I swear they can"
“Sir, he can’t do that job, he can’t do this job! I swear he can. He can do everything. I am a witness. I am a witness from my mother, who I spent day and night with from the moment I was born until I was 17. There was no job he didn’t do in the village. He can’t be a driver! Why? He can do every job. He can govern this country, govern Istanbul, govern districts, be a captain, do science, do art; he can do everything. In that respect, we will continue this strong step taken in IETT regarding this equality. Ladies who are devoted to this job and love this job are also very dear to this institution. We hope their numbers increase. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this training, with the hope of bringing our nation together on the days of IETT, which will serve stronger and better, God willing. We would like to thank you, our valuable captain participants. I wish you all safe and trouble-free journeys.”
DEMET: “WE PROVIDED A TOTAL OF 795 NEW VEHICLES”
IETT General Manager Demet also shared the following information in her speech:
“With its 6.786 vehicles and 11 thousand driver staff, İETT carries out 832 thousand trips on 64 different lines in a day. It covers a distance of 1 million 400 thousand kilometers and makes approximately 5 million trips. The distance covered by İETT in just 1 day is exactly 835 times the distance between Edirne and Kars, and 35 times the equator, the widest circumference in the world. The number of trips made in 1 day is more than the population of many countries in the world. In order for the service quality of İETT, which carries out such a valuable duty for the flow of life in such an important city, to improve day by day, our İBB Mayor Mr. Ekrem İmamoğluWe continue our work rapidly under the leadership of . In order to strengthen our fleet and serve our city with much more powerful, comfortable, environmentally friendly vehicles equipped with new generation technologies, we have acquired a total of 252 new vehicles, including 150 high-passenger capacity metrobuses and 795 buses.”
“WE HAVE ENDED THE SUBCONTRACTING PRACTICE IN IETT DRIVERSHIP”
“We have ended the subcontracting practice in İETT driving and ensured that 2.654 of our drivers who were previously working for subcontractors joined the İETT and İBB family and worked with equal opportunities. We increased the training of our drivers by 5 times and ensured that they receive 47 hours of additional training each. Within the scope of this training, we carry out academy studies so that our drivers can communicate effectively with their passengers and their environment; have safe and advanced driving equipment; can cope with stress; are well-versed in new generation vehicle equipment and technology; are ready, conscious and know what to do in a major metropolis like Istanbul; and become the most professional drivers in their field, and we are reaping the rewards.”
“WHILE WE HAD NO FEMALE DRIVERS BEFORE 2019, TODAY WE HAVE 163 FEMALE CAPTAINS”
“While we did not have any female drivers in İETT before 2019, with our President's vision of equal opportunities for women, transportation in İETT has been touched by women. Today, 163 of our female captains are serving in Istanbul with İETT vehicles. They are receiving very positive feedback from Istanbulites. Also;
Since 2019, we have increased the number of female employees in our institution by 213 percent and the number of female managers by 236 percent. And at this point, we now have 3 female trainers who provide training to our male captains. We continue to break new ground at IETT during this period. We have started to provide all these practical trainings at the IETT Academy not only for our captains on the IETT staff, but also for all private public bus drivers who provide service under the supervision of IETT.”
Following the speeches, İmamoğlu and Demet gave plaques to drivers who had not received any complaints or had any accidents in the last year.
