Prof. Dr. Yılmaz Büyükerşen is the Mayor of Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality in Turkey
Not only am I the Mayor of Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality in Turkey, but more importantly, I am also a citizen and consumer here. As such, I understand the various difficulties related to cash usage – it’s inefficient and germ-ridden – and as Mayor, wondered how Eskişehir would be without money.
Our vision was to create a valid money card to use all over Eskisehir – -we wanted our city to become a cashless model for all other cities. This was achieved with the renovation of our mass transportation infrastructure and implementation of an electronic ticket system. Launched in 
December 2011, the Eskisehir money card (Esparacard, as it is known locally) really put us ahead of the curve in terms of modern payment technologies.
Today, our renovated electronic ticket system is a modern system integrated with a banking infrastructure that enables the usage of payment cards from all the banks. It was the expertise, collaboration, and partnership between the Electronic Ticket System Operation of Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality, Garanti Bank and MasterCard that brought Esparacard and our vision to life. Esparacard is also the first transport card with M/Chip Advance, the new payment platform of MasterCard.
Best of all, the people of Eskişehir have the opportunity to use their Esparacards not only on trams and buses, but also at cinemas, restaurants, and for shopping. So far, we’ve served as a model for many cities in Turkey and now I’m sure that we shall set the world an example with Esparacard.
Please enjoy this short video about our beautiful city and the launch of Esparacard, and we look forward to welcoming you in Eskisehir.