ISTANBUL, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- "Scooty," a new Turkish mobile application, has been seeking to ease the traffic sufferings of the residents in Istanbul, Turkey's largest metropolis, since its birth in April.
As the first of its kind in the country, "Scooty" was launched by a handful of young entrepreneurs, who defined it as an "unconventional transportation application" providing an alternative riding mechanism for the city's chaotic traffic.
Cenk Kaya, head of marketing department of Scooty, described the app as a "right sharing platform" rather than a conventional motorized taxi service.
"We are matching Istanbul motorcyclers with people who like bike trips and happen to commute in the same direction," Kaya told Xinhua.
Once the match is done, they could immediately start to enjoy riding across the city with the advantage of using a motorcycle in heavy traffic for a certain fee.
The application comes in handy particularly in emergency situations.
"We have clients who need to rush for weddings, funerals or pilots need to catch their flights," Kaya noted.
Tarkan Anlar, the founder of Scooty, said sometimes the clients just want to take a city tour by sharing the adventure of riding along rather than travelling to a specific point.
"Here, we are trying to prove that Istanbul has still more to offer plenty of beauties once you don't need to worry about the traffic," Anlar explained.
The application has been downloaded by 70,000 users across the city in four months. It has currently 1,000 approved active motorcyclers available.
Ahmet Keskin, a Scooty user, told Xinhua that he always prefers to call for a ride when the traffic is at its peak.
Keskin works in the Asian part of the city but lives in the European side.
"Normally, it takes one and half hour or so to travel between the two sides," he explained. "But it only takes exactly 15 minutes by motorcycle."
The approval teams of Scooty rely on rigorous vetting procedures, including safe drive tests for the motorbikers.
There's also a feedback mechanism for the users to rank the service of the rider at the end of each journey by assigning star points.
Authorization of a motorist who ranks below four out of 5 points is cancelled immediately.
The next target of the Scooty brain team is Turkey's third largest city of Izmir on the Aegean coast.
"As we grow up we also aim to introduce the motorcycle culture to the Turkish people," Anlar said.
