"We will demand a 30-40 percent increase in service fees"

Istanbul Public Service Vehicle Operators Chamber of Tradesmen President Günhan Sinar spoke to Bloomberg HT about the problems experienced with service fees. Stating that they are operating in an inflationary environment, Sinar stated that they will request an increase of around 30-40 percent for the upcoming period. Istanbul Public Service Vehicle Operators Chamber of Tradesmen President Günhan Sinar evaluated the problems experienced with service fees to Bloomberg HT. Stating that there was a 60 percent increase in service fees compared to last year, Sinar said, “The first segment between 0-1 km was 1300 TL. There was a 65 percent increase here, but there was a 60 percent increase in the remaining segments. The first segment is 1300 TL, and 23-25 km is 3,042 TL. Of course, a 35 percent guide personnel fee is added to these. The guide personnel fee is applied in schools where the use of guide personnel is mandatory.” Stating that they are operating in an inflationary environment for the rest of the year, Sinar said, “There may probably be a new correction in January or maybe before January. At this point, these figures are not very high fees actually. Shuttle service is a private service. If you think about transporting 16 children 0-1 km, it makes 18-19 thousand TL,” he said. Stating that there are some problems in private schools and that 2-3 times the fee is charged when the specified tariff is not followed, Sinar said, “If we look at why this occurs, there is a problem in the operation there. After all, a private school is a business, therefore it is doing a trade and trying to make money. Private schools do not give their work directly to a shuttle service. They make a contract with a transportation company. When making this contract, the agreement between them offers requests such as private teacher service, shuttle service for special events. Of course, not all private schools do it, some do. These are reflected to the parents as a fee at the very beginning. Transportation companies do not have their own vehicles. After signing a contract with a private school, they turn to Istanbul shuttle service. They make a contract with them. Our colleagues are also victimized because they work with a 50-60 percent commission. There are even examples that we still have colleagues trying to get the months of May and June. Parents are right, I am not paying high fees, while our colleagues are still trying to get their payments from May and June. Therefore, there is a distortion here,” he said. Drawing attention to the need to reorganize these relations, Sinar said, “These vehicles do not come from somewhere outside. The vehicle fleet in Istanbul largely belongs to Istanbul service tradesmen. In state schools, individual transportation tradesmen largely make contracts. If parents and authorities complain about private schools, let’s make a regulation here and get rid of the intermediaries. Istanbul service tradesmen already provide this service with the same quality. When the transportation companies are removed, private school service fees will also reach the same level as state schools. I think there will be a correction for the upcoming period, perhaps in January or before January. Since this difference is also dependent on inflation, we will request an increase of around 30-40 percent according to our estimates.”