Photo: Marti Ileri Teknoloji AS
Hilly, populous Istanbul has embraced the electric scooter, which can zip up hills faster than bicycles, emitting no carbon along the way in an urban area where air pollution-related health issues account for as much as 27% of the country’s overall medical costs. With an estimated 36,000 scooters, Istanbul’s fleet is larger than Berlin’s and Rome’s. Marti Ileri Teknoloji AS, the first operator to launch, runs a fleet of more than 46,000 battery-powered scooters, mopeds and bikes in Istanbul and other Turkish cities, and its app has been downloaded 5.6 million times. “It’s a unique market, and we are the solution,” says Oguz Alper Oktem, Marti’s co-founder and chief executive officer. “The goal is to be an end-to-end transportation alternative.” McKinsey projects that Turkey’s mobility market, which includes private vehicles, taxis and public transportation, could grow to $8-12 billion by 2030 if cities like Istanbul deter people from using cars and follow through on planned investments in infrastructure, such as new bike paths.
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