Recent Period of Dolmuş (Stagnation-Obsoloteness)

Dolmuş was one of the innovative ideas of the migrants to survive, not only to serve the needs of transport but also to become a “real” citizen and to gain a position in the society. In their book Tekeli and Okyay (1981) emphasize this by stating that dolmuş was both the solution and the problem itself. The solution of the huge migration and population booms would not be possible without creating that kind of innovative ideas for the migrants. Additionally, Sencer (1979) emphasizes that, it is a necessity for newcomers to develop traditional mechanisms (or sectors operating with traditional mechanisms), which would enable their integration to the urban society and the city. However, as an innovative migrant idea, starting from the mid-1980s dolmuş secured its own status quo in transportation network. One of this status quo design emerged in Ankara network, as consequence of the cancellation of station-dolmuş vehicles, which were one of the variations of station-dolmuş. In 1983, the municipality canceled the operations of station-dolmuş vehicles. That was the final breaking point⁵ in the history of dolmuş. There were two main reasons for the importance of that kind of decision. The first one was that; dolmuş used to be a mode operating in different forms. That was enabling dolmuş to provide different types of services for different social groups. Furthermore, minibus-dolmuş vehicles eliminated one of the transportation modes, which were actually a member of dolmuş (paratransit) family. In other words, dolmuş was diminishing the first legal form (as

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mentioned in early period of dolmuş) of itself. The second important change affected the transportation choice of different groups. Until that year, dolmuş was a service between private transport and public transport. Especially taxi-dolmuş operations were helping to prevent the middle-class to gravitate towards purchasing cars. That decision created a public transport network provided by buses and minibuses. Low comfort, relatively late take-off times and most importantly operational similarity of dolmuş services as a whole directed the attractions of middle classes from public transport to private cars. Surely, cancellation of station-dolmuş services was not the only reason of the increase in car purchases. Actually, car ownership levels were increasing in Turkey for many years. However, dolmuş operations was a kind of threshold which were preventing some groups from purchasing cars and that decision demolished that structure of dolmuş. Dolmuş was successful as a prevention mechanism because, as stated before it was providing a service between public transport and private car (Grava, 2003; Adam Smith Institute, 1989; Tekeli & Okyay, 1981). The evolution of the dolmuş –including five breaking points in the last 90 years- could be followed from the figure below (See Figure 3).

Figure 8. Historical Breaking Points of the Dolmuş Operations in Turkey

The 1990s were the years of urban rail system investments in metropolitan cities in Turkey. From 1996 onwards in Ankara and from 1989 onwards in İstanbul municipalities, the municipalities introduced light rail and metro operations. The opening of these first metro lines could be another breaking point in the history of dolmuş; however, a disintegration problem emerged with the transition to electronic ticketing and routing. Cash payment opportunity and tendency of operators on the

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main arteries was not supporting the metro operations. While in the 1970s dolmuş vehicles were supporting the transportation supply by complementing the inadequate public services, in the 2000s dolmuş vehicles were actually diminishing the efficiency of the publicly operated public transport operations by competing them.

As presented in the upcoming chapters, even on the main arterial metro corridors, dolmuş vehicles were restraining the efficient operations of public transport.

Uncontrolled public transport operations of the municipality, namely; the introduction or suspension of public transport operations instantaneously, not developing a ticket or route integration policy between public and private transport, introduction of huge public transport investments without supporting land use decisions and developing a transportation network based on private cars resulted in a loss of passengers in publicly operated public transport.

4.1.4. Dolmuş as of Today

As stated previously dolmuş is both the solution and the problem itself in Turkey. In the beginning of the 20^th Century, dolmuş system emerged as a public transport substitute as a result of the inadequacies in the conventional transit system in Turkish cities. By providing both transportation service and job opportunity it became a substantial solution for the migrants. Nevertheless, after the 1980s, its operations were unable to evolve according to the contemporary needs in terms of cost, reliability and comfort and it evolved into a problem in the network. Especially with the increase in the income of middle-class groups, it became the only and the greatest problem focus in the metropolitan cities. However, it should be mentioned that even if it creates a problem in today’s modern urban environment, it still exists because of a total inadequacy in the network (Şanlı, 1981). Dolmuş evolved into different forms in the last 60 years as a response to the change in travel needs and the regulation in transportation services. Its adaptability to the existing needs made it survive until today. Besides, urban development –as indicated before- eased the adaptability of dolmuş operations. From the basis of Ankara network as the capital city with a transportation network dominated by dolmuş, it is important to emphasize that the CBD oriented development increased the impact of land use on dolmuş use. To make it more clear, a strong CBD mostly results with high ridership levels coming through the center. Cervero (1998, 84), points out that influence on Toronto, Canada (with a

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CBD that is among the highest levels of employment and retail primacy in North America) with the following statement:

About 65 percent of all trips entering the CBD and historically well over 200 transit trips per capita, per year; higher than in any U.S. metropolitan area, including greater New York. These outcomes are due in considerable part to the presence of a regional planning body (Metro) whose chief responsibility has been to orchestrate regional growth, in particular the co-development of railway services and land development.

It was mentioned in the previous chapters that, paratransit vehicles are mostly a better substitute to private cars compared with the conventional buses. In other words, private car oriented urban development created an environment, which is much more suitable for paratransit operations compared with the conventional modes.

According to the conceptualization of Tekeli and Okyay (1981), it is not possible to explain the continuity of dolmuş system currently with conventional approaches.

There are three main misconceptions in writings and discussions regarding the dolmuş. The first one is the belief that, dolmuş provides a service which is identical to the conventional transit services. This common misunderstanding has been explained in detail in the previous chapters. If that was true, especially in the municipalities of Ankara and Istanbul, the share of dolmuş should have decreased dramatically, however that is not the case. Even in the areas with rail rapid transit provision dolmuş still exists. The second misconception is that bus, metro or other conventional modes provide a cheaper service than dolmuş. In practice, it appears that way, however -when in vehicle-out of vehicle travel times and other benefits of dolmuş are considered- in reality, dolmuş can provide a much more convenient, fast and comfortable service that balance the price difference. Third and the last misunderstanding is the belief that as dolmuş operators are horizontally organized, they are unable to create an effective lobby influential on municipalities. Maybe in the early periods of dolmuş operations this statement was true; however, today being one of the most dominant transportation mode, dolmuş operators are quite influential on the decision making process in the locality.

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In the next part, the existence of dolmuş will be emphasized in detail in a specific case, according to the historical development of Ankara transportation network. The aim of this historical emphasis is to show the development of paratransit modes and conventional modes and to determine the situation of dolmuş operations in a metropolitan city.

4.2. Historical Development of Ankara Transportation System and the