İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, ESHOT General Directorate hosted the technical visit organized in cooperation with the International Public Transport Association, the European Bank and SOLUTIONSplus. The foreign public transporters conducted inspections at ESHOT, which established Turkey's first electric bus fleet; and got information about the work in process.  The ESHOT General Directorate, which commissioned Turkey's first electric bus fleet in 2017,hosted Deputation of the International Association of Public Transport. A total of 25 representatives from UITP member institutions and organizations from different countries participated in the "Electric Bus Supply, Planning and Financing Training and Technical Visit" program organized with the joint organization of the UITP Academy, the European Bank and SOLUTIONSplus. In the training seminar, the Head of ESHOT Transportation Planning Department, Dr. Hakan Uzun, President of UITP Eurasia and UITP Academy Senior Advisor Feyzullah Gündoğdu gave a presentation about the electric bus procurement, process and planning. Uzun, who conveyed his ESHOT experience from the public procurement to the post-warranty period, said “Our data shows that electric buses are much more efficient and environmentally friendly than fuel-powered buses. The President of UITP Eurasia and Senior Advisor to the UITP Academy Feyzullah Gündoğdu, the Public Transport Consultant from Spain Josep E. Garcia Alemany, Bozankaya Head of Business Development, Sales, Tender, Project Contracts and Public Relations Yigit Belin, Director of Transport, Cairo, Egypt ,Ahmed El-Kafoury gave presentations at the meeting. They also investigated solar power plants.
The deputation visited ESHOT General Directorate Gediz Workshop on their second day in İzmir. ESHOT General Manager Mr.Erhan, General Manager Asistants Kader Sertpoyraz and Kerim Özer hosted the deputation. In addition to the electric bus fleet, information was also given about the Solar Power Plant (SPP) installed on the roofs of the workshop and garage buildings. The deputation also visited the laboratory where measurement, control and reverse engineering studies deemed necessary by the General Directorate of ESHOT are carried out. ESHOT General Manager Mr.Erhan emphasized that they are one of the institutions with the highest public transportation experience in Turkey. He stated that ESHOT, with its 80-year history, is also an 'Izmir brand' He said “Pioneering and innovative culture”.
“ESHOT is an institution that has been the leading actor since the first half of the 1940s in the process of public transportation that commenced with horse-drawn trams in İzmir. It has a powerful memory and an established culture. There is the goal of ‘always being better’ at the core of this culture, besides pioneering and innovativeness. Actions such as the production of buses for the first time in Turkey, the first transition to the electronic wage system, the establishment of the first electric bus fleet, the implementation of the first SPP construct by a public transportation company; They are the most tangible samples of the culture I am talking about. We will continue to be a pioneer and innovative in providing public transportation services that satisfy the needs of the age and satisfy the needs of the city at the maximum scale. We are proud to greet UITP members, who are aware of this aspect of us, in our city and to contribute to their work.”