The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality will implement a number of new initiatives to develog the city’s taxis to a better stage through a central control mechanism, making journeys safer and less exhausting

Municipal officials of Istanbul are in the process of initiating a major push for reform in the country’s transportation sector to ensure that tourists and visitors to Turkey get a positive first impression of the country. Mindful of the fact that taxi drivers are usually the first people that foreign nationals encounter after landing at Turkey’s airports – and considering the nightmarish experiences expressed by travelers in travel blogs and books from across the globe – officials have decided that taxi services will be upgraded for locals and foreigners in 2016.
The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality will establish a new, central control mechanism – “taxi central office” – along with a hotline and GPRS tracking system designed to ensure taxi trips are safe and quick. There will be a single hotline – 145 – that customers can use to call a cab from any location in the country; making the Turkish taxi experience much easier. Now, when customers need a cab, they must know the telephone number of the local taxi service in the area, or they must stop a taxi on the street. Customers will be able to access the taxi service via a smartphone app or the Internet. However, there will be a fee for these services. All Istanbul taxies will also feature panic buttons for both the driver and the passenger for emergencies. Once the button has been activated, the location

Under the new taxi system, these vehicles will also feature security camera systems inside and outside which can be activated automatically by the driver or passenger in case of an emergency. The security system will feature biometric fingerprint authentication for personal identification purposes. At the same time, the Directorate of Public Transportation Services will track all taxis through an online map using the GPRS system. This system will not only be applied for arterial roads, but it will also be able to monitor side streets.