There Is Now A Bicycle Chief Of İstanbul: Rukiye Demirci

Bicycle Directorate unit was established under Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality at the beginning of February. Rukiye Demirci, who has been working as a city planner in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality for 12 years, has been appointed as the chief of the Unit, that is, the "Bicycle Chief of Istanbul", who will seek solutions to problems of bicycle transportation in Istanbul. We talked to Rukiye Demirci to get to know the Bicycle Chief of Istanbul better, to learn the purpose and the recent plans of this new unit, and to talk about what outputs they received after "İBB Bicycle Workshop" held in the past weeks.

Who is Rukiye Demirci? Can we get to know you a little?

Hello. I’m Rukiye Demirci. I was born in 1983 in Ankara. I’m originally from Rize. I’ve graduated from Selçuk University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Besides, I draw professionally. I have been working as a city planner in Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s Transportation Planning Directorate for 12 years.

You use bicycle for transportation in your daily life. You ride to work, for how long? What are the reasons for you to prefer transportation by bicycle? 

I have been cycling in Istanbul and outside the city for about 6 years. I go on tours with my bike. I attend a bike festival every year. On weekends, I go to places close to Istanbul and do camping tours with my bike. I’ve been going to work with my portable bike on certain days of the week for about 3 years. The reasons why I chose life with the bicycle are that the bike gives me the opportunity to move more freely and that I can constantly be in motion.

İstanbul Municipality has founded a unit called İBB Bicycle Directorate and now you’re the “Bicycle Chief of Istanbul”. What does this unit do exactly? What is your job definition? Can we hear it from you too? 

The Bicycle Unit was founded in January. I started working in this unit, I was already working in the same directorate, only my unit has changed. The purpose of this unit is to increase awareness that bicycles are means of transportation as well. The aim is not to make thousands of kilometers by bicycles, but to give people, to pedestrians and vehicle users the perception that bicycles are the means of transportation. To spread the culture of cycling and to create a road map and working according to the results of the workshop we organized on 7 February.

On February 7, a Bicycle Workshop was hosted by IBB. First of all, I would like to ask how the participation was. Who attended, what was the profile of the participants in the means of institutions and the sector?

Participation was lower than we expected. Attendance from the district municipalities that we need to cooperate with was very low. But the participation of associations, cyclist groups and bike users were pretty good.

Has the workshop been effective? Is there a goal of making these meetings regular among IBB? 

I think it was a very productive workshop for the beginning. These meetings will be repeated in small groups. In the workshop we held on February 7, we talked about all problems related to bicycle and bicycle transportation such as infrastructure, awareness, education and culture. From now on, meetings with small groups will be held on more specific topics.

You have become a Bicycle Chief to find solutions to bicycle transportation problems in Istanbul. As discussed in the workshop, there are different categories of problems that need to be resolved, as you’ve just mentioned. Do you prioritize between these problems? Is there a specific problem that the Cycling Chief will address right away?

We are currently in the process of preparing the workshop report, the primary demand in this process is the regulation and continuity of existing bicycle routes. The second prominent problem is the demand for secure parking stations. We are in the process of addressing our work towards this direction.

Some routes have been determined in the master plan for bicycle routes created by İBB. However, it is seen that these routes are generally located outside the city center and on the coastline. Is there a cycle plan for the city centers in the future?

The most important goal of Bicycle Directorate is to open the way for the use of bicycles for transportation other than sports purposes. This cannot be solved simply by making bicycle roads. If a system integrated with public transportation modes will be developed, then we can say that bicycle has a place in our lives.