Details of HS | A monthly ticket can soon cost more than 70 euros in public transport in the Helsinki region

Public transport monthly tickets are going up by almost 10 percent in the two core zones of Helsinki Region Transport (HSL).

In practice, according to HS data, this would mean that the current monthly ticket of 65.20 euros would increase to 71.50–71.80 euros, depending on the calculation of how the change in student discounts is specified.

Increase rate is a waste, because just five years ago monthly tickets within Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa cost 54.70 euros.

The 8 percent increase initially proposed for the AB and BC zones is no longer enough, because the HSL board relaxed the qualifications, which aimed to save a total of 7.8 million euros in expenses.

Eliminating free trips for strollers would have saved expenses by two million, and granting a student discount only to recipients of study aid by 2.3 million euros.

The government wanted to keep valid the free trips for people carrying baby strollers, and the student discount is now aimed at full-time students.

Inside out in the previous basic presentation, no increases were even presented for other types of tickets, for example three-zone ABC tickets.

Even a tiny one percent cut was proposed for the ABC ticket, so that the current monthly ticket of 99.80 euros would be cheaper next year to 98.90 euros.

This may still change during preparation.

The majority of HSL’s box office revenue is collected from the AB and BC zones, which cover the Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa area. Trips to these two zones account for 79 percent of box office revenue.

The three-zone ABC ticket generates 14 percent of HSL’s ticket collection. The importance of other ticket types in the whole is about one percent.

The HSL board has decided that this time the increases will be mostly applied to season tickets. For single tickets, the increase would be from 2.80 euros to 3 euros in AB and BC zones. The exception would be the CD zone, where the price of a one-way ticket would drop from the current 3.20 euros to three euros.

of HSL the government will discuss the new ticket taxis on Tuesday next week.

The big groups in the board have committed to the goal of 381 million euros in box office revenue, because the member municipalities, with the exception of Helsinki, have signaled that they are no longer able to pay the increased subsidy during the corona period.

During the pandemic, the municipal shares have risen to more than 60 percent.

In any case, the share paid by the municipalities will increase by around 60 million euros next year, because the start of the extension of the western metro will significantly increase the infrastructure compensation paid by HSL.

HSL or HSL’s board cannot determine the municipal contributions of the member municipalities, but the budget must be sized according to what the member municipalities agree to pay.

In public transport in the Helsinki region, the aim has been to ensure that ticket revenues cover about half of the expenses, and the tax funds of the member municipalities cover the rest.

Next year, HSL is invoicing member municipalities for 489.1 million euros as municipal contributions, which covers 55 percent of HSL’s expenses.