Helsinki Regional Transport Authority

HSL was founded on 1 January 2010[3] on the basis of the Finnish public transportation law, joukkoliikennelaki, which was adopted on 3 December 2009.[4] According to joukkoliikennelaki, HSL is responsible for the planning of public transportation in Greater Helsinki. The traffic functions of the inter-municipal Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (YTV) and planning, procuring and tendering functions of Helsinki City Transport (HKL, within the city of Helsinki) were moved into the transport authority.[3]

When it was founded, HSL had a revenue of over €500 million and approximately 350 employees.

In 2016, HSL started to develop a revamped version of its native journey planner, Reittiopas, originally released by YTV in 2001. The replacement intermodal public transport route planner named as Digitransit[5] is built on open source OpenTripPlanner.

In February 2017, the new route planner was opened for public use, and the phasing-out of Reittiopas Classic began.

The Helsinki Metro is operated by HKL. The metro line opened in 1982. The system serves 25 stations in total on its two lines, M1 and M2.

The first phase of the Länsimetro expansion program extended the metro lines west to Lauttasaari and southern Espoo, serving eight new stations. The second phase of the extension is slated to open in 2023. At that time, the total number of metro stations on the line will increase from 25 to 30.

Commuter rail service in the region is operated by VR. There are 52 stations in the network, which are served by 15 lines. Out of HSL's three rail networks, commuter rail is the most far-reaching; it serves the northern, north-eastern, and western suburbs of the city, as well as Helsinki Airport in Vantaa.

Trams in Helsinki are operated by HKL. Helsinki was the only Finnish city with tram service in use as of November, 2017. Tram service in Helsinki began in 1891.

HSL offers three types of bus service: standard buses, neighbourhood buses and two small headway crosstown lines ("runkolinja", literally: trunk lines).

HSL tickets are also valid on most U-routes which are run by separate companies and serve cities outside of the HSL area.

The standard bus routes can be divided into the following categories:

• Helsinki internal bus routes
  • 14-23: buses serving the central area
  • 37-43: buses leaving from Kamppi or Elielinaukio and serving the areas of Haaga and Kannelmäki
  • 50-69: crosstown lines, usually going from eastern or northern Helsinki to Elielinaukio, Kamppi or Rautatientori
  • 70-79: buses serving the Malmi area
  • 80-98: eastern metro connection buses
    • 80-89: buses serving areas near Herttoniemi
    • 90-98: buses serving areas near Itäkeskus, Myllypuro, Kontula, Mellunmäki, Rastila and Vuosaari
• Espoo internal bus routes
• Vantaa internal bus routes
• Regional routes within the HSL area
  • 111-739: these buses have a basic numbering system with the smaller numbers mostly going west towards Espoo, the larger numbers mostly going north-east towards Vantaa and the some 500-series buses being cross-city routes

The numbers listed above have exceptions (e.g. Helsinki internal school bus route 91 which serves the Östersundom area).

The neighbourhood lines use mini-buses which stop anywhere on the line at a passenger's request. These lines often run hourly from morning to afternoon on weekdays and have little to no service on weekends. The lines are mostly meant to be used by people with difficulties moving but they can be used by all people.

There are two orange colour-coded cross-city lines which are called trunk lines are routes 550 and 560. 550 runs from the Itäkeskus metro station in the east, through the Oulunkylä, Huopalahti, Pitäjänmäki and Leppävaara commuter train stations and the western metro stations of Aalto-Yliopisto and Tapiola, terminating at Westendin asema in the west. 560 runs from Rastila metro station in the east, through the Vuosaari, Mellunmäki and Kontula metro stations and the Malmi and Myyrmäki commuter train stations terminating in Honkasuo in the north.

Both routes use long wheel-base buses which have a high capacity and are colour-coded orange instead of the regular blue colour-coding on buses.

Buses on the route 550 run every 4–10 minutes between 4:20 and 21:30 and every 15–30 minutes between 21:30 and 1:00 on weekdays with buses running every 10 minutes between 10:00 and 19:00 and every 15–30 minutes between 4:50 and 10:00 and between 19:00 and 1:00 on Saturdays, and every 10 minutes between 10:00 and 19:00 and every 15–30 minutes between 5:20 and 10:00 and between 19:00 and 1:00 on Sundays.

Buses on the route 560 run every 7–10 minutes between 5:15 and 20:30 and every 15–30 minutes between 4:30 and 5:15 and between 20:30 and 0:30 with buses running every 10 minutes between 11:00 and 18:30 and every 15–30 minutes between 5:00 and 11:00 and between 18:30 and 0:30 on Saturdays, and every 15 minutes between 11:00 and 20:30 and every 20–30 minutes between 5:30 and 11:00 and between 20:30 and 24:00 on Sundays.

A plan to build a light-rail connection from Itäkeskus to Keilaniemi following the current route of bus route 550 has been finalised and accepted by the cities of Helsinki and Espoo. Construction is set to start in 2019.

The light-rail will have a track gauge of 1000mm which is the same as on the Helsinki tram system. The vehicles would be larger versions of the current Helsinki trams and would be built by Finnish company Transtech.

Bus services are divided among multiple operators. The companies granted with traffic contracts as of 2020 are:

• Nobina
• Pohjolan Liikenne
• Helsingin Bussiliikenne
• Savonlinja
• Tammelundin Liikenne
• Åbergin Linja
• Korsisaari
• Taksikuljetus
• Reissu-Ruoti
• Tilausliikenne Nikkanen
• V-S Bussipalvelut

A ferry to Suomenlinna is part of the HSL network. This route is operated on two ferries, Suokki and Suomenlinna II.

In 2016 HSL launched Helsinki's bikeshare program. Starting on 2 May 2016, users could register to use the network for a day fee of €5, a week fee of €10 or the entire season from May to the end of October for €25. The initial network included 500 bikes, one of which a user could use to travel from any of the 50 stations to another.

The bikeshare system is a joint venture between CityBike Finland, HKL, and HSL. The system is sponsored by HOK-Elanto's grocery shop chain Alepa, which has purchased the commercial space on the bicycles. Due to this, the bicycles are colloquially known as alepapyörät (”Alepa bikes”).

In late 2016 HSL announced the details of a revamped bikeshare system, this time spanning 1,500 bikes and 150 stations. The expanded bike program brought the service to Munkkiniemi, Pasila, and Vallila. In addition to having 1,400 bikes and 140 stations in Helsinki, the service covered Matinkylä and Olari in Espoo with 100 bikes and 10 stations. The 2018 season saw a further-expanded network, with a total of 2,200 bikes at 220 stations, of which 70 are located in Espoo. The season fare was increased to €30.[7]

• A – spans from the city centre of Helsinki to the districts of Lauttasaari, Etelä-Haaga, Käpylä and Kulosaari
• B – the rest of Helsinki, Kauniainen, eastern Espoo and southern Vantaa
• C – the Östersundom district of Helsinki, western Espoo and northern Vantaa
• D – the town of Kerava and the municipalities of Kirkkonummi, Siuntio, Sipoo and Tuusula
  • Travelers traveling between the HSL zone and Järvenpää may also use zone D tickets; the city will become a full member of HSL in 2022.[10]