Istanbul taxi drivers to receive training

ISTANBUL

Among other things, one will now also need to have completed a training program to qualify as a taxi driver in Istanbul. If anyone is caught giving ride service as a taxi driver without obtaining the relevant certification, they will be banned from traffic.

The project is called the “Taxi Training Project” and is run together with the national Education Ministry and Istanbul’s Chamber of Artisan Taxi Drivers (İTEO), which represents around 50,000 taxi drivers with 18,000  licensed cabs.

“Those without the [training] certificate will no longer qualify to be a taxi driver. Those who are qualified as drivers, but are doing wrong [to customers] will be banned from the profession. Judicial and administrative sanctions will also be applied,” said İTEO head Eyüp Aksu.

“They [some taxi drivers] are giving [customers] fake money in change. Some are also cheating [customers]. For example, they give 5 liras instead of giving 50 Turkish Liras [around $9] as change. There are cases where tourists want to ride a short distance, but taxi drivers take them the long way around Istanbul. Because of these people, taxi drivers who practice their profession with integrity are uncomfortable,” said Hakan Eğinlioğlu, head of the Istanbul Chamber of Tourist Guides (İRO).