Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council
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The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (
Economy
The Metropolitan Council used €155.6 million in 2002 and its income was €160.3 million. Traffic and waste management make up 97% of its expenditure. About 70% of the income consisted of customer fees for public transport and waste management.
Transportation management
The Metropolitan Council grouped together different Public Transportation companies operating in the Metropolitan area, such as
 | Parts of this article (those related to Ticket information) need to be updated. (November 2010) |
Most tickets were bought using the electronic travel cards, a smart card service run by Buscom. These travel cards supported two types of payment for trips:
| English | Finnish | Swedish | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Value | arvo | värde | A specific amount of money can be spent, within an unlimited time period. There were no inherent zone restrictions as each zone can charge for its trips individually. |
| Period | aika | period | An unlimited number of trips can be made, within a specific limited time period. The time periods were specific to each zone separately. |
If the same travel card was loaded with both value and period, period took priority when applicable to the current zone. If the period ran out, or the passenger travelled to a zone where the period was not applicable, value was used instead.
The travel cards were bought through certain shops and Public Transport Information Centres.
The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council managed the following zones before 2010:
- Helsinki
- Espoo and Kauniainen
- Vantaa
- Regional traffic 1: Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa
- Regional traffic 2: Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa, Kerava and Kirkkonummi (excluding Helsinki)
- Entire region: Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa, Kerava and Kirkkonummi
Mission
The mission of the Metropolitan Council was to improve the capital area's development by high quality public transports, waste management and air protection. In addition a "development planning unit" has the purpose to increase cooperation between the four town-administrations involved, particularly regarding planning of land use.
External links
- Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council – A now defunct site
- HSL – Helsinki Regional Transport Authority
- HSY – Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority Archived 2010-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
- Journey Planner (in English)