New bus routes will be introduced in Suur-Espoonlahti and Suur-Kauklahti on Monday 6 February. There will be changes to bus routes 124, 125, 145, 147, 158, 159, 165, 166, 167, 242 and 542. In the future, most of the buses will run to the new Espoonlahti bus terminal instead of Matinkylä. Many residents of Suur-Espoonlahti will have shorter bus journeys to the metro.
The route of trunk bus 510 will be extended and the bus will run between Kivenlahti and Herttoniemi. The bus will provide a direct connection from Espoonlahti to Meilahti, Pasila and Vallila.
New weekday peak-time services will be provided from Saunalahti, Olari and areas near them to Kamppi. The new peak-time bus routes are 121, 121A, 164 and 164K. The buses will run every 20 minutes. The new bus routes will reduce the load on the metro network and provide direct journeys to Helsinki.
Bus routes 124K, 125K, 143, 143A, 146, 146A, 147A, 158K, 164A, 164VA and 166K will be withdrawn. The direct peak-time bus services from Espoonlahti, Kivenlahti and Soukka to Kamppi will be withdrawn because the services overlap with the metro service. Direct peak-time services will be provided north of Länsiväylä to areas farther from the metro.
Bus route 157, which serves Tillinmäki, will be withdrawn because other buses and the metro replace the services provided by the route. Bus 157 will be replaced by buses 124, 158 and 542 that provide a direct link to the metro in Espoonlahti, as well as by bus 159, which will start running along Martinsillantie instead of Länsiväylä.
New crosstown bus routes will start running from Espoonlahti and Kivenlahti metro stations to Kauklahti train station. New bus route 162 and bus route 165 will connect the metro and Kauklahti train station. New bus route 163 will improve services from Saunalahti to Espoonlahti.
Direct night bus routes between Espoo and Helsinki will continue to run at times of the day when the metro is not running. There will be a minor change to the routes of night buses 146N and 147N: the buses will start running along Espoonlahdenkatu instead of Kipparinkatu in front of the bus terminal. There will be changes of 5 to 15 minutes to the timetables of nearly all night buses.
The routes and timetables of the new bus services are available in the Journey Planner. HSL’s information leaflet about the changes will be distributed to all households in Suur-Espoonlahti and Suur-Kauklahti at the end of January/beginning of February.
Stop signs and timetable sheets are already being changed at bus stops in western Espoo. We started started the work in good time because there are about 400 stops that need to be fixed.
Towards more integrated public transport
The changes are needed to align bus routes in western Espoo with the new section of the metro line between Matinkylä and Kivenlahti.
“HSL’s aim has been a straightforward bus network that provides fast feeder services to rail transport stations,” says Johanna Wallin, the Director of Transport Division at HSL. “The trunk rail network currently consists of the metro and commuter trains. Rail services are complimented by bus services to stations.”
The new bus routes and the new section of the metro line improve connectivity between district centers in Espoo.
There will be more changes to bus services in Espoo in August 2023 when new trunk bus routes 520, Matinkylä–Martinlaakso, and 530, Matinkylä–Myyrmäki, will start. At the same time, the routes of buses supplementing the trunk bus routes will change. We will provide more information about the changes to take place in August closer to the date.
Routes were planned in interaction with local residents
We planned the new routes in close interaction with residents of western Espoo. In autumn 2020, we surveyed residents’ needs and expectations through a travel survey and held three resident workshops to obtain baseline data.
The main interaction channel was a blog about the plan written by our public transport planners. Public transport planners updated the blog with information about the progress of planning, discussed the plan with customers and made changes to the plan based on the feedback they received.
We would like to thank everyone who participated in the planning. The interaction will continue after the new routes start. We will monitor how the new feeder services meet residents’ needs, receive feedback with an open mind and refine the services according to the available resources.
Read more about the new bus routes
Read more about the new section of the metro line