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The Istanbul Bicycle System (ISbike), launched by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB), has fallen into disuse after a long period of inactivity. Aerial footage revealed that thousands of bicycles were moved to storage areas and vacant lots, and the stations have suffered damage due to a lack of maintenance.
The aerial footage showed that weeds had grown in areas where the bicycles were kept, station cables were exposed, and the bicycles had deteriorated due to exposure to sun, rain and snow.
IBB Council Member Adem Yıldız stated that the system, which started operating in 2013, has had its mobile app, ISbike, inactive since 2023. Yıldız pointed out that despite the app being inactive, prices were increased, saying, “Thousands of bicycles are left to rot. Let’s repair these bicycles and make them available to the people of Istanbul.”
“If you have abandoned this system, we could donate it to children at schools. Alternatively, if you are seeking another method, we could consider giving them as gifts to different cities in Anatolia. The bicycles should not go to waste,” he added.
Yıldız added: “A system worth hundreds of millions is about to be wasted. Please, let’s not allow the CHP-led IBB to permit this negligence. The tragicomic part is that ISbike has been inactive since 2023. The bicycles are rotting in storage, yet the IBB and its administration have raised prices for a service that doesn’t exist.”
“Are we surprised? Of course not, because this is the CHP mindset. In 2023, while we expected the system to be renewed and fixed, non-existent services were subjected to successive price hikes,” he added.
