Editorial|The lack of contactless payment options in the capital region’s public transport and the excessively difficult access to the Kaisantunnel Bicycle Garage are problems that can be solved.
Yksi was removed from the construction sites in the core of Helsinki in May, when the long-awaited Kaisantunnel was opened. It is a 33 million euro path running under the tracks of the Helsinki railway station, which makes it easier to get around by bike and on foot between Kaisanieminupuisto and Töölönlahti’s Kansalaistor.
The city dwellers interviewed by Helsingin Sanomat directly glowed tunnel on opening day. The cycling distance from one side of the track to the other is shortened by about 600 meters, and people no longer have to wait at traffic lights on the confusing route of Rautatientor.
Instead, the 900-seat Bike Garage opened in the tunnel on Monday has already caused confusion. The new garage has all the niceties, including bike washing and service points, but you don’t just walk in. For now, doors are only opened with plastic travel cards.
The HSL application that can be downloaded to the phone has overtaken the old card in popularity years ago. Of course, many people may have their card lying at the bottom of a box, but most of them haven’t used a plastic travel card in a while. Instead, the HSL application has already been downloaded more than a million times.
Acquiring a new travel card is not quite simple or at least effortless. For example, in Helsinki you can only get a card from Rautatieasema’s Kauppakkuja, and there are sometimes long queues there. There are only 15 points of sale in the entire Helsinki Region Transport (HSL) area.
HSL promises that Pyörätalli’s doors will also open with a phone app at some point next fall.
Ttechnical delays bring to mind another crown of sorrows. Why is the HSL application or travel card needed at all? Why can’t you pay with contactless payment on the capital region’s means of transport by just flashing your bank card?
Today, you can pay with a bank card almost everywhere, but it is still not valid for HSL’s means of transport.
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During the holiday season, the strangeness becomes visible.
The people of Helsinki are already used to this, but during the holiday season the strangeness becomes visible. From the capital region, you don’t have to travel further than Turku or Tampere to prove how easy it really should be to pay for a single bus trip. Contactless payment was introduced on London buses in 2012.
In the Helsinki region, contactless payment has been discussed for years. Due to various setbacks and bidding problems, the project has only been delayed and delayed. Later this year, is HSL’s answer to this too.
OFthese problems are apparently going to be solved soon and are of course quite small compared to the real problems of public transport, such as the automatic metro that has gone downhill or the ticket prices that go back and forth.
According to the last presentation, ticket prices would rise again by eight percent, when they already had time to get cheaper in the meantime. The cheapest season ticket would henceforth cost 71.93 euros per month instead of the current 66.60 euros. If the increase is extended to the tickets of the three zones, their monthly price would already rise by more than a hundred euros. Even a single ticket for two zones would rise again by more than three euros.
Vesa Silfver, acting CEO of HSL, has justified the latest price increases with the reduced use of public transport, as more and more people work remotely. In the past, an attempt was made to increase the number of passengers by lowering ticket prices, but it did not produce the desired result. Passenger numbers are now 13 percent down compared to the times before the coronavirus pandemic.
According to HSL’s own customer satisfaction survey last fall, 86 percent of passengers were at least fairly satisfied with public transportation. Despite minor and major annoyances, public transport users seem to be quite loyal and long-suffering types. Although I wish there were more of them.
The editorials are HS’s positions on a current topic. The articles are prepared by HS’s editorial department, and they reflect the journal principle line.
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