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Public transport in Helsinki consists of bus, tram, metro, local railway and ferry services. The system is managed by Helsinki Region Transport (Finnish: Helsingin seudun liikenne, or HSL) and covers Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa and the outlying Kerava, Kirkkonummi and Sipoo.
Contents
- Trunk bus lines
- Regular bus lines
- Regional services
- Tram
- Metro
- Commuter train
- Ferry
- City Bikes
- Zones
- Ticket types
- Fare collection
- References
Helsinki is currently the only city in Finland to have either a tram system or a rapid-transit metro system. The city of Turku dismantled its tram system in 1972, and Finland lost the city of Vyborg to the USSR in World War II and the city subsequently withdrew its trams in 1957.
50% of commuting trips within the city limits of Helsinki are made using public transport and only 28% using a private car, while 48% of the households have access to a car. The ridership is typical to a European city, but if Helsinki were in U.S., it would have the second highest ridership after New York. Partly due to lack of trams or rapid transit outside the Helsinki Region, the ridership in other cities in Finland is significantly lower.
The Helsinki Metro, opened in 1982, was the first, and so far the only, rapid-transit metro system in all of Finland. The metro currently serves only the eastern suburbs and some areas close to the city center. For the first 16 years of its existence, the line was topologically only one straight line, but in 1998 a branch to the easter suburb of Vuosaari was opened.
The construction of the long-debated Western extension of the metro system into southern parts of Espoo was approved by Espoo City Council in 2006. As of January 2017, the 14-km, 8-station first stage of the extension, to Matinkylä, is to be opened in 2017, and the second stage, to Kivenlahti, is also under construction. Helsinki is also planning to extend the existing metro line from its eastern terminus at Mellunkylä to Östersundom, an area annexed by Helsinki in 2009 for the purpose of building a large new planned community.
Local trains operate on grade-separated, dedicated tracks on three rail lines that radiate out from the Helsinki Central railway station. Most routes offer rapid-transit-like service with a peak headway of 10 or 15 minutes, the last trains departing from Helsinki city center only after 1 am, or 4 am on weekend nights. A service to the Helsinki Airport began in July 2015, when the Ring Rail Line extension to the system opened. A number of the local and regional trains run further out to towns as far north as Riihimäki and Lahti and as far west as Karis (Karjaa) on tracks shared with long-distance trains. These regional services have headways of up to one hour and often more limited operating hours.
Long-distance trains depart from the Central Railway Station and Pasila railway station to destinations across Finland. Intercity trains offer connections to major Finnish cities and international services to Saint Petersburg and Moscow in Russia.
A tunnel has been proposed to connect Helsinki with Tallinn, though the proposal is still in the investigation phase.
Trunk bus lines
In August 2013, HSL launched the first trunk bus route, the orbital line 550, formerly branded Jokeri. The trunk lines are meant to provide "metro-like" service with very short headways and a distinguishable fleet. The second orbital trunk line, number 560, opened in August 2015, and HSL is planning for a number of further lines in the coming years.
Regular bus lines
Internal bus routes of Helsinki can be found almost anywhere in Helsinki. For some parts of the city, even high-density, these buses provide the backbone of the public transportation system.
The routes are drawn and the timetables set by HSL, but operated by independent companies. HSL tenders a route or a set of routes and the company offering to operate the route for the best quality-price ratio will get the contract. The quality is measured with a pointing system which gives points for such aspects as the quietness, environmental efficiency and the size of the buses that would be used. The biggest bus operators are Nobina Finland, Veolia Transport Finland and Helsingin Bussiliikenne (HelB). These companies run a majority of the contract services. One rapidly expanding company is the VR (state rail) owned Pohjolan Liikenne, which has recently been very successful with the tendering. Mostly the expansion has been at the cost of HelB.
Many of the buses operating in eastern Helsinki act as feeder lines for the Helsinki Metro. Nearly all other routes have the other end of their lines in the downtown near the Helsinki Central railway station. Such exceptions are present as dedicated lines operating directly from a suburb to another past the centre (for example Helsinki buses 51-54, 56-59).
The line numbers for the internal lines contain two digits and for some a letter.
Most lines are operated between 5:30 and 23:30, the most popular between 5:00 and 1:30. In daytime outside of rush hours the basic interval for buses is mostly either 10, 15, 20, 30 or 60 minutes depending on the length and the demand of the line. Nighttime lines which operate only from 23:30 to 1:30 (and sometimes early morning) are signified by letter N. Recently the tradition of having designated night routes has been broken and replaced with N-variants of daytime routes.
Other letters include:
A: lengthened or clockwise-circular route
B: shortened or anti-clockwise-circular route
K: exception in route, often insignificant
T: trams to terminal (4T, 6T), 100-series buses via Lauttasaari
V: faster or more direct route
Z: faster or more direct route (usually along highway)
Helsinki bus terminals include Kamppi (surface area), Rautatientori, Elielinaukio and Hakaniemi. Larger metro stations have their own feeder bus terminals.
Outside Helsinki, routes staying within a city have two numbers as well, except for Vantaa, where all inner routes were changed to have three numbers in August 2015. HSL is abolishing this by renumbering the routes within the decade.
Regional services
The regional bus lines are today managed by HSL in similar manner to the management of the internal lines of Helsinki. The regional lines are specially designed for moving people between important points in the metropolitan area and for the sole purpose of getting to downtown Helsinki. These lines tend to use the fastest possible way to get out of Helsinki, usually through motorways.
Lines from southern Espoo terminate at Kampin keskus, the ones from central Espoo and western Vantaa terminate at Elielinaukio and the ones from northern Vantaa and Kerava terminate at Rautatientori. The last two mentioned are located next to the central railway station.
The operating hours for regional lines are similar to those of internal lines, but the departures are often not as frequent.
At most times, the line numbers are composed of three digits and occasionally a letter or two accompanying them. Two-number regional lines are rare, and thus far only two have been created: 39 Kamppi-Myyrmäki and 74 Hakaniemi-Porttipuisto (IKEA).
Tram
Helsinki's tram network has been operated continuously with electric drive since 1900 and it is mostly of a traditional type, with all of the tramways located on the streets, on both dedicated tram lanes and in mixed traffic. The network covers the densely populated central districts and some of the adjacent areas, but it has been expanded only very modestly after the 1950s. The network is composed of 12 lines, all of which except one (line 8) run through some part of the city centre. Over 50 million trips are made with the trams each year.
The tram system is managed and operated by HKL.
Metro
The metro is the backbone of the public transportation for East Helsinki. The system consists of a single line with two branches and it currently has 17 stations. An 8-station, 14-kilometer extension to Espoo in the west is under construction and scheduled to be opened in 2017.
The metro is managed and operated by HKL.
Commuter train
The commuter train system is the backbone for the areas northeast and northwest from downtown. The network reaches relatively far from Helsinki with metro-like services from Helsinki to Kerava, Kirkkonummi and via airport back to Helsinki. The network is managed by HSL and operated by VR. Trains not managed by HSL reach even further, all the way to Lahti, Riihimäki and Karis.
Ferry
Helsinki has two ferry lines, both operated by Suomenlinnan Liikenne Oy. One ferry connects Suomenlinna to the mainland. The ferries are the only connection to the mainland for the residents of Suomenlinna, though a tunnel for emergency vehicle access is in place. The second line connects the mainland to the Korkeasaari Zoo. One line departs from Market Square and the other from Katajanokka.
City Bikes
Helsinki’s city bike system was opened in May 2016 with 50 city bike stations (hubs) and 500 bikes serving the inner city area. The system will expand in 2017 with additional 100 hubs and 1000 bikes.
Zones
The public transportation system has three zones: internal, regional (two zones) and the whole region (three zones). Internal covers a single city and regional the Helsinki metropolitan area or the whole area without Helsinki. The whole region covers the Helsinki metropolitan area and additionally the Kerava, Kirkkonummi and Sipoo municipalities. The different areas are symbolised by different colours: Blue signifies Helsinki, green signifies Espoo and Kauniainen, red signifies Vantaa and purple signifies the entire metropolitan area.
Ticket types
The transport system offers a vast number of different tickets and several ways to get them.
Single fare tickets can be bought from bus drivers, tram operators, automats, and by a text message. Text message tickets are only valid on the metro and its feeder lines, trams, commuter trains within Helsinki, the ferry to Suomenlinna, and Helsinki bus 78. Each metro station and ferry stop, and most railway stations, are equipped with at least one ticket kiosk.
Most users of the public transport have a Travel Card, an RFID card used as an electronic ticket. Users can load period and value on their cards. Period ticket offers unlimited travel for the dates paid for. Value is used to pay for one trip, which may contain changes. The price of a single trip is lower when paid with the travel card instead of buying a single fare ticket.
Internal single trip tickets are valid for one hour (for the eastern and north eastern feeder lines 80 minutes). For regional tickets the transfer time is 80 minutes or 100 minutes for the ticket covering the whole region.
Fare collection
The transport system uses the proof-of-payment approach for fare collection for the metro, local trains, trams and ferries. In the buses the driver checks the tickets as passenger step in. Ticket controllers check tickets on randomly selected vehicles and a penalty fee of 80 EUR and a price of a single ticket is charged from any passenger without a valid ticket. If a passenger has forgotten his/her Travel Card with valid travel period, the passenger may later visit a service point of the transport company and will not have to pay the penalty fee.