As of 2009[update], Finland has used three models for local public transport. The implementation of these models was regulated by national laws of passenger transport, which were abolished after European Union regulations and laws of public transport service (869/2009) came into effect on December 3, 2009. The Finnish government-owned railways are regulated by specific laws. The local railways in Helsinki (metro and tram) are regulated by the city's own laws and regulations.
Public vehicles required transport licenses. Cities that have been granted licenses include Espoo, Helsinki, Hyvinkää, Hämeenlinna, Imatra, Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Kajaani, Kemi, Kokkola, Kotka, Kouvola, Kuopio, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Mikkeli, Oulu, Pori, Rauma, Riihimäki, Rovaniemi, Savonlinna, Seinäjoki, Tampere, Turku, Vaasa, Vantaa, and Varkaus. Among those, Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, and Kauniainen received YTV granted licenses for traffic. Elsewhere, transport licenses were granted by the county boards.
The laws and regulations for passenger transport did not set any high-reaching goals such as passenger numbers or service levels. The intent of the law was that public transportation is foremost a business venture. The majority of Finnish public transportation has, however, been supported by the government either directly or indirectly. This could be by purchasing transportation or by subsidizing tickets for students, children, or other groups. The current law for public transportation sets in §3 the goal that the system needs to be developed in such way that it can provide public transportation that satisfies the necessary demand in the entire country. An additional goal for highly populated areas (over 50,000 inhabitants) is that the service level for these areas is so high that it promotes and increases the usage of public transportation.
Line permission model
The line permission model described in the article has not been in use since the EU law of public transport service came into effect March 12 of 2009. The old licenses were turned into transportation agreements for a transitional period in order to continue the rights and obligations of the licenses as well as various ticket types. The transition period for these agreements will end in February 2019.
In the line permission model, tickets are subsidized and the profitless drives are purchased. Traffic contractors apply for transport licenses for various lines and specific drives. If no one applies for a license for a line that has been deemed necessary, it is bought on net tender principles. The community supports the system by subsidizing student tickets and by investing in municipality or region ticket prices to make public transportation more attractive and feasible for consumers.
The model was used in most parts of Finland except the YTV-area and the internal public transportation of Turku and Tampere municipalities. In practice, the railway traffic service that was run on VR Oy monopoly (excluding the YTV-area) followed this model.
Advantages
The entrepreneur has risk and develops responsibility.
The entrepreneur can produce the most affordable and competitive services.
The model does not require significant planning from the community.
From the point of view of the traffic contractor, the traffic is more independent.
Disadvantages
The number of public transport trips is considerably lower compared to other systems. (Each trip yields 50% less profit than other systems.)
The community has less power over the system, even though the support level per trip is higher than in other models.
The subsidies also pay for tickets on profitable lines.
The ticket subsidy arrangement leads to an increase in government spending as customer numbers increase.
Malpractices have been noted in the system when some of the drives have been reported unprofitable, and the operator driving the rest of that line has won the tendering.
Traveling is expensive for the passenger; the ticket systems do not offer affordable discounts; and the possibility of changing tickets will be restricted, mainly between lines of the same traffic contractor.
Orderer-producer-model
In the orderer-producer model, a community plans the transportation system, buys services from different contractors, and pays from ticket revenues and through community subsidies. The main part from traffic is tendered. The model is used in HSL bus traffic, and in the Turku public transport. HSL buys train transportation from VR Group as if the transportation was tendered, but pays the price that has been defined by the monopoly of VR Oy. The Turku public transportation company receives a compensation proportioned to the tendering.
Advantages
The passenger numbers are high.
The production of the traffic is efficient.
Society has good control over the system, can decide the level of service in detail, and can carry out any preferred traffic policy.
Society can design the traffic and the urban structure simultaneously.
Disadvantages
Almost all traffic risk is transferred to the society.
The traffic contractor will not have an interest in developing the system, if the agreement lacks a functional rewarding and sanction system.
The system has been reported for utilization of underpricing and cartels.
The system contained problems regarding work safety and the position of the labor force. This was corrected by the so-called Lonka agreement.
Smaller traffic contractors' future may be endangered if the company loses the tendering of its lines to other operators.
Secured public transport model
The model of internal acquisitions is in use in the tramway traffic and underground service of Helsinki (Helsinki City Transport), in the internal traffic of Tampere (Traffic services of the city of Tampere about 90%), and in the local traffic of Turku (City transport of Turku about 20%.)
Advantages
The society has power in detailed decisions over the traffic.
Some of the possibilities correspond to tendered traffic systems.
Disadvantages
The society bears all of the business risk.
Ineffective and inert practices are risk factors in protected municipal service.
The transport system of Finland is well-developed. Factors affecting traffic include the sparse population and long distance between towns and cities, and the cold climate with waterways freezing and land covered in snow for winter.
The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council was a co-operation agency operating in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, now replaced by HSL and HSY. The organisation had a few responsibilities, most notably regional public transport and waste management. It was subordinated to the city councils of the four participating cities. Furthermore, transport cooperation also included neighboring municipalities of Kerava and Kirkkonummi.
VR-Group Plc, commonly known as VR, is a government-owned railway company in Finland. VR's most important function is the operation of Finland's passenger rail services with 250 long-distance and 800 commuter rail services every day. With 7,500 employees and net sales of €1,251 million in 2017, VR is one of the most significant operators in the Finnish public transport market area.
Helsinki commuter rail is a commuter rail system serving Greater Helsinki. The system is managed by the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL) and operations are contracted out to VR at least until 2031.
The Finnish railway network consists of a total track length of 9,216 km (5,727 mi). The railways are built with a broad 1,524 mm track gauge, of which 3,249 km (2,019 mi) is electrified. Passenger trains are operated by the state-owned enterprise VR that runs services on 7,225 km (4,489 mi) of track. These services cover all major cities and many rural areas, though the coverage is less than the coverage provided by the bus services. Most passenger train services originate or terminate at Helsinki Central railway station, and a large proportion of the passenger rail network radiates out of Helsinki. VR also operates freight services. Maintenance and construction of the railway network itself is the responsibility of the Finnish Rail Administration, which is a part of the Finnish Transport Agency. The network consists of six areal centres, that manage the use and maintenance of the routes in co-operation. Cargo yards and large stations may have their own signalling systems.
Trams in Helsinki form part of the public transport system organised by Helsinki Regional Transport Authority and operated by Metropolitan Area Transport Ltd in Finland's capital city of Helsinki. The trams are the main means of transport in the city center, and 56.8 million trips were made on the system in 2019. In addition to the older tram network, there is a single light rail line that was opened in October 2023. Although technically compatible with the tram network, the light rail line is separate from the city center tram network.
Turku Central Station is a railway station in the VII District of Turku, Finland. It has VR services to Helsinki and towards Joensuu. The station serves approximately a million passengers annually.
Public transport in Helsinki consists of bus, tram, metro, local railway and ferry services. The system is managed by the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority and covers Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa and the outlying Kerava, Kirkkonummi, Sipoo and Tuusula.
Tikkurila station is located in Tikkurila, the administrative centre of Vantaa in the Helsinki metropolitan area. It is located approximately 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Helsinki Central railway station and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Helsinki Airport. The station is considered the main railway station of Vantaa, and almost all long-distance and commuter trains stop here.
Tampere Central Station is a functionalist building in Tampere, Finland, designed by Eero Seppälä and Otto Flodin, completed in 1936. The station is one of the most important railway stations in Finland. In 2015, the Tampere Central Station was the second busiest railway station in Finland in terms of numbers of passengers, after the Helsinki Central Station.
Mäkkylä is a station on the VR commuter rail network, between the cities of Helsinki and Espoo in Finland. It is situated between Pitäjänmäki railway station and Leppävaara railway station and is about nine kilometres northwest of Helsinki Central railway station.
Although Finland has no dedicated high-speed rail lines, sections of its rail network are capable of running speeds of 200 km/h (124 mph). The Finnish national railway company VR operates tilting Alstom Pendolino trains. The trains reach their maximum speed of 220 km/h (137 mph) in regular operation on a 75.7 km (47.0 mi) route between Kerava and Lahti. This portion of track was opened in 2006. The trains can run at 200 km/h (124 mph) on a longer route between Helsinki and Seinäjoki and peak at that speed between Helsinki and Turku. The main railway line between Helsinki and Oulu has been upgraded between Seinäjoki and Oulu to allow for trains to run at speeds between 160 km/h (99 mph) and 200 km/h (124 mph). Other parts of the Finnish railway network are limited to lower speed.
The Tampere light rail, branded as Tampere Tram, is a public transport system in Tampere, Finland. In November 2016, the Tampere city council approved plans to construct a 330-million-euro light rail system on the route from the city centre to Hervanta and to the Tampere University Hospital. Traffic on the first two lines of the route began on 9 August 2021.
The Sm5 electric multiple unit (EMU) is a low-floor train used on the Helsinki commuter rail network. Unlike other train types on the network, the Sm5 units are owned by Pääkaupunkiseudun Junakalusto Oy, a subsidiary of the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen. The units are leased to the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL), and VR operates them.
The Helsinki Regional Transport Authority is the inter-municipal authority that maintains the public transportation network of the nine municipalities of Greater Helsinki, Finland.
Trams in Finland date from a horse-drawn Turku tramway network, which opened in 1890. Electric tramway traction started in Finland in 1900 with the introduction of electric trams in Helsinki, and the last horse-drawn trams were withdrawn from operation in 1917. Although there were three Finnish tramway networks between 1912 and World War II, by 1972 the number of networks had dwindled to just one, that of Helsinki, which remained Finland's only tramway network for almost 50 years. However, in August 2021, a light rail line was opened to the public in Tampere. There have also been proposals to set up tram or light rail networks in some other cities. As of 2021, the most concrete such plans are in Turku.
The Finnish VR Class Hv1 was a 4-6-0 express passenger train locomotive. 42 were built between 1915 and 1921. They were numbered 545–578 and 648–655.
The Lentorata is a planned railway line in Finland, designed to link Helsinki Airport to the Finnish long-distance railway network and to complement the current airport connection via the Ring Rail Line. Construction of the line is not expected to start until 2030, with the line operational several years later.
VR commuter rail is a Finnish commuter rail system operated by VR – the national railway operator of Finland – under a public service obligation agreement with the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Finland. The operations are planned in trilateral co-operation between the ministry, the operator and various regional transport authorities.
Local and regional bus services are a large part of public transport in the Helsinki region. HSL bus services include internal services in Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa, Kerava, Kirkkonummi, Sipoo, Siuntio and Tuusula and regional services between them.
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