Need help understanding travel card and HSL ticket system

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Jeolwuk
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Need help understanding travel card and HSL ticket system

Post by Jeolwuk » Fri Aug 10, 2018 1:42 am

Hei,

I'm moving to Helsinki area (from another country) and was reading about the HSL Travel Card and zones, so I have a few questions and I'll appreciate some help.

Assuming the use of the travel card:
1) What's the difference between Season tickets and Value tickets? (excluding cost)
2) If I live in Vantaa or Espoo and I'm going to the heart of Helsinki, I would need to use the regional ticket, right? (until the new zoning starts)

Well, I guess this is it... for now.

Kiitos!



Need help understanding travel card and HSL ticket system

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FinnGuyHelsinki
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Joined: Sun Nov 08, 2009 8:52 pm

Re: Need help understanding travel card and HSL ticket system

Post by FinnGuyHelsinki » Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:03 am

Jeolwuk wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 1:42 am
1) What's the difference between Season tickets and Value tickets? (excluding cost)
Season ticket is valid for a given period (no matter how often it is used), value ticket is valid as long as it has paid value on it (each trip is paid individually). The former is better (i.e. cheaper) for daily use, the latter for more infrequent use.
Jeolwuk wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 1:42 am
2) If I live in Vantaa or Espoo and I'm going to the heart of Helsinki, I would need to use the regional ticket, right? (until the new zoning starts)
Yes.

Jeolwuk
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Re: Need help understanding travel card and HSL ticket system

Post by Jeolwuk » Fri Aug 10, 2018 5:29 pm

Thanks for the reply, FinnGuyHelsinki!
no matter how often it is used
Wait. Just to make sure I got it right and sorry for sounding kinda dumb (this is unusual where I live):
With season tickets, will I be able to ride (using metro, bus or trams) unlimited times through the paid period? With how many transfers I want?
So it doesn't matter if one day I ride 2 times and the next day, 15 rides and the next, if possible, travel all day through the zone?

And one more question.
Do I specify a zone when buying season tickets?

Thanks again!

riku2
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Re: Need help understanding travel card and HSL ticket system

Post by riku2 » Fri Aug 10, 2018 9:19 pm

when you buy a season ticket you specify what zones you want it for and how long (although for short periods like 4 days you don't buy a travel card but instead a 4 day ticket, they are not quite the same thing since the "ticket" is loaded onto different things (plastic card or disposable card for the two types).

The whole system is incredibly complicated and badly explained if you are not bought up with the concept of what is a "region". it's grown more and more complicated as they added more municipalities to the HSL area. for example there is a "region ticket" and a "region 2 zone ticket". you would think helsinki + vantaa would qualify for region 2 zone (since there are two municipalities involved) but a "region 2 zone" is actually 8 municipalities. a "region 3 zone" is of course the 8 municipalities from the 2 zone plus helsinki (totally obvious from the 2 zone / 3 zone name!). to round things off, the "regional ticket" has less zone coverage than the "region 2 zone". A quick check on the pdf zone map and you'll find that the names are different - the "region 2 zone ticket" from the ticket price web page is called "extended region 2" on the map.

Jeolwuk
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Re: Need help understanding travel card and HSL ticket system

Post by Jeolwuk » Sat Aug 11, 2018 5:10 am

Thanks riku2!

Yeah... Reading about the zones can be a little overwhelming, but I think I got good a grasp of it.

Can you elaborate about the "limits" of the season tickets?

Cheers!

burak25
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Joined: Sat Apr 06, 2013 1:30 am

Re: Need help understanding travel card and HSL ticket system

Post by burak25 » Tue Aug 14, 2018 6:51 am

There is no limit. You use it as much as you like, in any public transportation device. No usage limitation other than zones.

Jeolwuk
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Re: Need help understanding travel card and HSL ticket system

Post by Jeolwuk » Wed Aug 15, 2018 8:59 pm

Thanks burak25!

Just arrived in Helsinki. :)


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