A Case Study from Urla, İzmir, Türkiye

In June 2025, Turla Mobility officially launched its shared e-scooter operations in Urla, a coastal district of İzmir, Türkiye, marking the beginning of a locally grounded yet globally scalable micromobility initiative.

Turla was designed not as a generic scooter operator, but as a context-aware mobility service, shaped by geography, urban form, and user behavior. Its foundation on the Scootable infrastructure enabled Turla to move from concept to on-street deployment efficiently, while keeping flexibility for future expansion.

Why Urla?

Urla is a unique testbed for shared micromobility.

Located on the Aegean coast, approximately 35 km west of İzmir’s city center, Urla combines:

• a walkable historic town core,

• seasonal population fluctuations driven by tourism,

• strong bicycle and pedestrian culture,

• mild climate suitable for year-round micro-mobility use,

• and increasing pressure on car-based transportation during peak months.

Unlike dense metropolitan centers, Urla represents a human-scale urban environment where micromobility can directly replace short car trips rather than compete with mass transit.

For Turla, this made Urla an ideal pilot geography to validate operational assumptions before scaling to larger urban areas.

From Concept to Deployment: June 2025

Turla Mobility’s operations went live in June 2025, aligned with the start of the high-mobility summer season. Within a short setup period, Turla:

• deployed its initial scooter fleet in key residential, coastal, and commercial zones,

• launched its mobile application for end users,

• activated payment, ride management, and fleet monitoring systems,

• and established on-ground operational workflows for charging, maintenance, and rebalancing.

The ability to activate all core systems simultaneously allowed Turla to start with a fully functional service, rather than a staged or partially manual operation.

Operational Model: Local First, Technology Enabled

Turla’s model prioritizes local operations while relying on a centralized digital backbone.

On the ground, the focus is on:

• fast response to local demand patterns,

• adapting deployment density to seasonal flows,

• working closely with municipal frameworks and public spaces,

• and maintaining visible, well-kept vehicles to build trust with users and residents.

At the same time, the underlying platform enables:

• real-time fleet visibility,

• ride and usage analytics,

• dynamic pricing and rule configuration,

• and standardized operations that can be replicated across new districts or cities.

This combination allows Turla to remain locally sensitive without sacrificing scalability.

Regulatory Context: Building Within Clear Boundaries

Türkiye’s shared e-scooter market is governed by a national regulation first introduced in 2021 and updated in 2025. While the updated framework clarified responsibilities and safety requirements, it also significantly raised entry barriers for new license holders.

Turla’s approach reflects an important lesson from this context:

sustainable micromobility growth increasingly depends on operational excellence and compliance, not only fleet size.

By structuring its operations within existing regulatory limits and focusing on efficient, right-sized deployments, Turla demonstrates how new mobility services can still emerge in regulated markets.

Early Insights and Learnings

Although still in its early phase, the Urla deployment has already highlighted several key insights:

• Demand concentrates around coastal routes, town centers, and short last-mile trips.

• Users value reliability and vehicle availability more than sheer fleet size.

• Seasonal variation requires flexible fleet and pricing strategies.

• Smaller districts can achieve strong unit economics when operations are well-calibrated.

These learnings are now feeding directly into Turla’s roadmap for expansion into other districts and cities.

A Replicable Case for Coastal and Mid-Scale Cities

Turla Mobility’s launch in Urla represents more than a local service; it offers a replicable case study for:

• coastal towns,

• tourism-driven districts,

• university areas,

• and mid-scale urban environments seeking alternatives to car dependency.

By combining a place-specific operational mindset with a scalable technological foundation, Turla positions itself as a model for context-driven micromobility in emerging and regulated markets.