A great employee benefit for travel in the Helsinki region

The commuter benefit is a fringe benefit that your employer can provide either as an auto-renewing HSL season ticket, a mobility budget or through an employee benefit provider.

Instructions for using the commuter benefit

Kaksi työmatkalaista nousee junasta Helsingin rautatieasemalla

Commuter Benefit in a nutshell

Easy way to pay for travel

The commuter benefit is easy to use in the HSL app, making ticket purchases as easy as ever.

Flexible to suit individual travel needs

Employers can offer their employees either an auto-renewing season ticket or a mobility budget, allowing the benefit to be tailored to each employee's travel needs.

A tax-free fringe benefit

For tax purposes, the commuter benefit works much like a lunch or phone benefit. It is tax-free up to €3,400 per year – in practice, this limit is not exceeded with any HSL ticket product.

An environmentally friendly way to travel

Using public transport for commuting helps reduce transport emissions and traffic congestion compared with driving.

A boost for your wellbeing

Using public transport is a great way to add more physical activity to your daily routine and enjoy a moment to unwind between work and leisure.

Also for leisure travel

Nothing prevents you from using the benefit provided by your employer for leisure travel as well, as long as it covers the required zones.

Different forms of commuter benefit

Auto-renewing season ticket

A monthly renewing ticket for the zones between your home and workplace. This is the most comprehensive form of commuter benefit for regular commuting: with a season ticket, you can travel worry-free as often as you like.

Employers can contribute to the cost of the season ticket in three ways:

The employer provides the ticket as part of your salary. You pay the full cost of the ticket from your salary but receive the tax benefit.
The employer pays part of the ticket price and you pay the remaining amount from your salary.
The employer covers the full cost of the ticket, so you can travel free of charge.

Mobility budget

A mobility budget is a flexible option that is particularly well-suited to employees who travel to the workplace less than three times a week.

Your employer can issue a mobility budget in two different ways, depending on the needs of the team or individual employee and, of course, the available budget:

Flexible mobility budget: a one-time amount issued once or several times a year, for example, €100 per employee twice a year.
Monthly mobility budget: an amount that is automatically added each month, for example, €30 per month per employee.

Epassi, Edenred or Zevoy

A third option for employers is to offer the commuter benefit through an employee benefit provider such as Epassi, Edenred or Zevoy.

You can then use the balance available through the provider, for example, in Epassi, to purchase HSL tickets. The process is very similar to using a mobility budget:

Add the employee benefit used by your organization as a payment method in the HSL app.
Use the benefit to pay for tickets for as long as you have balance remaining.

Henkilö istuu kannettava tietokone sylissään keskustakirjasto Oodin tiloissa

Which type of commuter benefit is right for us?

The best type of commuter benefit depends on your travel needs and your employer's budget. Here are a few rules of thumb you can use when making a suggestion to decision-makers:

For daily office-based work: auto-renewing season ticket (fully or partly funded by the employer)
For occasional office-based work: monthly mobility budget
For predominantly remote work: flexible mobility budget
For employers with limited budgets: auto-renewing season ticket provided as part of salary
For large, decentralized organizations: commuter benefit offered through an existing employee benefit program

A few facts about the HSL Commuter Benefit

What if my employer doesn't have the budget to offer a commuter benefit?

If the budget is limited, or if your employer is otherwise hesitant about introducing a commuter benefit, you could suggest an auto-renewing season ticket as part of salary.

Why?

The employer does not pay anything towards the cost of the season ticket.
You and your colleagues can get the ticket at a significantly lower cost than if you purchased it using your salary.
The employer incurs no additional costs for providing the benefit.
The popularity of the commuter benefit can be tested without financial risk.

A simple solution for employers and clear savings for employees.

What tickets can I purchase using a mobility budget?

One of the great things about a mobility budget is that you can use it for exactly the tickets you need.

You can use your mobility budget to purchase single tickets, multi-journey tickets and season tickets for any zones. It makes no difference whether your employer provides a flexible mobility budget or a monthly mobility budget.

The only exception is an auto-renewing saver subscription, which cannot be paid for using a mobility budget.

The benefit is personal, so you cannot use your mobility budget to purchase tickets for friends or family members.

How can I make the case that the commuter benefit would work for our organization?

If your employer is concerned about whether the benefit is suitable, difficult to manage or fair to different employee groups, it may be worth pointing out the following:

The commuter benefit can be offered at different levels to different employee groups or even to individual employees.
Different benefit types can be combined very flexibly. For example, an auto-renewing season ticket for employees who work on-site most often, a monthly mobility budget for hybrid workers, and a flexible mobility budget for employees who commute from farther away.
Benefits can be issued, edited and managed easily through the HSL Business Portal.
HSL only invoices for benefits that are actually used (activated season tickets and mobility budget that has been spent).

This allows employers to tailor the benefit to suit their organization. The risk of getting started is minimal, and the benefit can be expanded gradually as its popularity grows.