some questions about Finland public transport

joanmanuel · Post by **joanmanuel** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 4:48 pm

Hello friends:
I have some questions about the public transport in Finland, most things I know about it came mainly from gossips and I would like to know if they are true or not.
In the case that I need to go everyday from Helsinki to the Espoo area I suppose that I should buy a travel card that is Region 2 which corresponds YTV municipalites, is that right? I saw that according to the Travel Card Calculator from http://www.ytv.fi that will cost me 41.60 euros for a 30 days period of time; the question that I have is if I am going to have any restriction in the number of times that I could travel from Helsinki to the Espoo area, can I travel only once a day? back and forth? I somebody could explain me this point it would be very helpful.
Thanks

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yamusarna · Post by **yamusarna** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 5:11 pm

Hi,

A two zone travel card would cost you 84.40 euros, and there is no restriction on the travel.You can travel to and forth as many times as you want.

The below information is for your reference and information.
You entered the following information:
Card type: Personal
Prices for: 2009
Customer category: Adult
Municipality of residence: Helsinki
Travel zone: Region 2 zones
Duration: 30 Days
The price of the time period you selected: 84,40 euro

BR,
Yamuna.

joanmanuel · Post by **joanmanuel** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 5:23 pm

Thank you for your help yamusarna, I got one question, what is the difference when you put in the Travel Card Calculator in the part that it says Travel Zone, when you put Region 2 Zones or Espoo and Kauniainen? Mainly I need to travel from Helsinki to TKK that is in Espoo.
Does the travel card works also in the Metro or I must buy a separate ticket?
Thanks again

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 5:52 pm

OK, theres two zones. "internal" which is within one city and YTV which is the region of all cities. If you are 4 days in one city ond then once a week trave somewhere else it might not be worth buying the region. However if you get stupid and the smurfs come and you pay 80 euros so its worth it then. You can charge on the card "time" and "money". If you have "time" you can just go, with "money" you just pay a ticket thats valid for one hour. Unless you pay a tram ticket in a tram thats tram-only the ticket is valid in all bus, train, metro, tram thats in the YTV region. And then if you are a student with the right stickers in the right card and the right paper in the right office you can get student discount.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 6:27 pm

If you have not still moved in to Finland first you need to do after getting here is registering your place of residence in Helsinki in the magistrate office and say you need a paper document to show in YTV office. If you're a master's degree student in TKK you should also get the paper from them to show you're a student (gives 50% discount) before getting your travel card.
http://www.ytv.fi/ENG/transport/tickets ... udents.htm

Helsinki to Espoo is two zones (= Region (YTV)), and if you live in one and work/study in another city then that is what you should get.

joanmanuel · Post by **joanmanuel** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 6:40 pm

thanks for your advice Pursuivant, the problem is that approximately three times a week I must travel to TKK to follow some courses and the rest of the week I will follow then at Helsinki, so the travel card is valid for buses, metro and tram, am I right?

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 6:44 pm

joanmanuel wrote:thanks for your advice Pursuivant, the problem is that approximately three times a week I must travel to TKK to follow some courses and the rest of the week I will follow then at Helsinki, so the travel card is valid for buses, metro and tram, am I right?

Buses (within Helsinki, Espoo Vantaa), metro, tram + local trains within Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa and additonally the HKL ferry to Suomenlinna all included.

joanmanuel · Post by **joanmanuel** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 6:54 pm

thanks Rip, by the way is it true that the buses lines have not fixed travel journeys? I saw in http://www.ytv.fi/eng that if I want to go from one place to another in a certain time if I have a delay I should enter again to http://www.ytv.fi/eng and see which bus would take me to my destiny, is that right?

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 7:52 pm

joanmanuel wrote:thanks Rip, by the way is it true that the buses lines have not fixed travel journeys? I saw in http://www.ytv.fi/eng that if I want to go from one place to another in a certain time if I have a delay I should enter again to http://www.ytv.fi/eng and see which bus would take me to my destiny, is that right?

I'm not sure if I understood the question, but if you mean is it possible that buses can both early or late on intermediate stops compared to those times you see in online route finder or stop timetables, then the answer is 'yes'. The uncertainties in the actual times a bus reaches a certain stop are largest in rush hours and with longest routes.

maxxfi · Post by **maxxfi** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 8:30 pm

BTW, if Rip's understanding of your last question is correct, here is a little hint.
When you know from where your busses are leaving you can just go to this page:
http://aikataulut.ytv.fi/pysakit/en/ choose your bus typical stops
and print out a timetable, to hang at home door, bring with you, etc..
E.g. here is the table at TKK stop for busses towards Helsinki:
http://aikataulut.ytv.fi/pysakit/en/2222228.html

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 9:12 pm

maxxfi wrote:BTW, if Rip's understanding of your last question is correct, here is a little hint.
When you know from where your busses are leaving you can just go to this page:
http://aikataulut.ytv.fi/pysakit/en/ choose your bus typical stops
and print out a timetable, to hang at home door, bring with you, etc..
E.g. here is the table at TKK stop for busses towards Helsinki:
http://aikataulut.ytv.fi/pysakit/en/2222228.html

Never noticed those before

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 9:45 pm

There are usually several different routes to a particular destination. From where I live in Espoo I can get into Kamppi (Helsinki bus station) on 122A, 132, 121, 154, 156, 158.... they all stop within walking distance of home. But if I miss the 122A (the nearest one) then I need to walk to a different stop to pick up the next bus because the 122A only runs every 30 mins.

After a while you will soon get to know the different bus routes and you will become a real pro at using the YTV journey planner.

The buses are reliable, they usually turn up on time and run according to schedule; on many routes they use reserved bus lanes so are not affected by rush hour traffic.

This week was a bit dodgy as we had the new winter timetable. On Tuesday my driver on the 122A got lost, so a nice lady from down the road sat next to him and gave him directions into town. I don't think he had ever been through Espoo before since he didn't even know where to get on the Länsiväylä in Niittykumpu, we nearly ended up in Tapiola!!!

It sounds to me like you should load TIME onto your card for HELSINKI and then put some VALUE (cash) onto your card for the trips to Espoo. When you get on the bus you press #2 if you want to cross the zone boundary (ie HEL-> Espoo or Espoo-> HEL) and the machine automatically charges you just the DIFFERENCE between the cost of the Helsinki ticket and the regional ticket.

Jazqas · Post by **Jazqas** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 12:40 am

While we're on the topic, if your situation is not changing for a while (a year or more) It may be worth setting up the direct debt payment for the travel card (the Helsinki part anyway). Fixed monthly payment, no extra charge for night busses (

) and every 12th month free

.

Jazqas.

joanmanuel · Post by **joanmanuel** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:03 am

penelope wrote:
It sounds to me like you should load TIME onto your card for HELSINKI and then put some VALUE (cash) onto your card for the trips to Espoo. When you get on the bus you press #2 if you want to cross the zone boundary (ie HEL-> Espoo or Espoo-> HEL) and the machine automatically charges you just the DIFFERENCE between the cost of the Helsinki ticket and the regional ticket.

Thanks for your help Penelope, by the way could you explain me a little bit more about the VALUE and TIME issues of the travel card?

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:43 am

joanmanuel wrote:
penelope wrote:
It sounds to me like you should load TIME onto your card for HELSINKI and then put some VALUE (cash) onto your card for the trips to Espoo. When you get on the bus you press #2 if you want to cross the zone boundary (ie HEL-> Espoo or Espoo-> HEL) and the machine automatically charges you just the DIFFERENCE between the cost of the Helsinki ticket and the regional ticket.
Thanks for your help Penelope, by the way could you explain me a little bit more about the VALUE and TIME issues of the travel card?

First thing, the underlined part in Penelope's answer is wrong. Yes, they marketed the then new travel card system some five years ago with that feature, and then quite promptly took it away.

TIME is when you have charged and paid for a some number of consecutive DAYS. Minimum is 14 days, maximum one year. One way of looking at the pricing structure is to say you pay about 4.5€ charging fee and then fixed price for each day, making the cost per day cheaper for longer charging periods. (the mentioned automatically renewed ticket is also good option if you know you'll use ticket for at least a year without any longer breaks)

VALUE is when you have charged some amount of money (amount in euros and cents) to your card that you can use to pay for your tickets by pushing buttons(*) in the same machine you can just show your valid "TIME ticket". Using VALUE stored on your card is cheaper than buying the same ticket by cash from bus or tram driver or from machine in a subway station.

IF you commute or otherwise use public transport almost everyday the relative prices make charging "TIME" sensible. If you live in Helsinki use transportation there a lot but visit Espoo only once a week then having some 'VALUE' is good for those trips (while having a Helsinki internal "TIME"), but if you visit Espoo more often than that then it is better to have the YTV region TIME ticket. (because you'd always pay the full price for individual Helsinki-.Espoo trips, even if you had the Helsinki internal 'TIME' ticket)

---

(*)Many people find the buttons hard to use on the first try. Have your both hands free, put your the ticket flat to center of the machine centering on the point between the big numbered buttons, and when you see the text "choose your trip" (or something similar) in the machine screen, press the right button with your other hand while keeping the card by the center of the machine. If you see the green (or yellow) light then it worked OK. Don't press twice or you will pay twice.

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