Istanbul provides free public transport for unemployed residents
Reading time 1 min Christian Fernsby ▼ | November 1, 2024The city of Istanbul is offering free public transport to unemployed residents registered with local employment centers, benefiting nearly 237,893 individuals in the initial phase.
Türkİye Istanbul
This new policy is a response to the surging costs of public transport, which have seen a fivefold increase in the past five years due to Turkey’s economic instability and inflationary pressures.
The program targets registered job seekers from regional employment centers and will use digital QR codes for fare redemption, minimizing misuse while streamlining access.
Other cities have explored diverse models of transport assistance for job seekers, tailoring policies to meet local needs.
Budapest offers unlimited free transit to all job seekers, while the Australian state of New South Wales provides discounts for a limited period.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Western Cape focuses exclusively on interview-specific transit support, reflecting different regional approaches to addressing transportation barriers.
Istanbul’s policy goes beyond simply lowering fares; it aims to remove a tangible barrier to job market access in a city where only 17% of jobs are within a 30-minute reach of public transport. ■
No problem can be solved until it is reduced to some simple form. The changing of a vague difficulty into a specific, concrete form is a very essential element in thinking."
