HSL Executive Board approved new bus routes for Tapiola and Leppävaara
Our Executive Boad discussed the route network plan for Tapiola and Leppävaara on Tuesday 8 February and decided to approve the plan. The next step is that we start preparations to roll out the new routes.
The new bus routes are set to be introduced when the light rail line 550 starts operating, according to current estimate in early 2024.
See a map showing the new bus routes in Tapiola and Leppävaara
What will change?
Here you can read more about the changes outlined in the plan and the reasons for them. We also summarized those customer expectations that unfortunately cannot be met at least for the moment.
There is also information about changes to be introduced in the areas around Tapiola and Leppävaara set out in previously approved route network plans.
We are not proposing any changes to the following routes: 116, 117, 119, 121, 124, 125, 164, 200, 201, 201B, 207, 213, 229, 502, 510, 522, 522B, 548 and 549.
Bus 52 will start running from Kuninkaantammi via Kannelmäki, Huopalahti station, Munkkivuori and Otaniemi (M) to Maari. The terminus will move from Teekkarikylä to Maari.
The aim of the change is to improve connectivity between the Maari employment area and West Helsinki. In Maari, bus 52 will run a one-way loop along Tekniikantie, Maarintie and Tietotie. The terminus of the route will be on Tietotie.
The rush hour / daytime / Saturday / Sunday headways will be:
10 / 10 / 10 / 15 minutes.
There will be no changes to the route of bus 111. Consequently, due to cost reasons, it will not be possible for bus 52 to serve Tapiola as proposed in the first draft plan.
Bus route 104, Lauttasaari (M) – Westend – Haukilahti, will be withdrawn.
We will replace the route with a new route 105, which will run more frequently and have longer operating hours than route 104.
Moreover, the new route will provide feeder services to Niittykumpu Metro Station.
The new route 105 will run from Lauttasaari (M) via Westend, Haukilahti and Niittykumpu to Mankkaa.
The rush hour / daytime / Saturday / Sunday headways will be:
15 / 15 / 30 / 30 minutes.
The route will replace routes 104 and 115, which will be withdrawn. Bus 105 will provide a welcome transport link from Haukilahti to Niittykumpu Metro Station. The bus will also run more frequently and have longer operating hours than bus 104.
The new route will reinstate a feeder connection from Westend to Lauttasaari on weekends.
The new route will bring significantly more frequent bus service to Kokinkyläntie in Mankkaa. There will no longer be a direct service to Tapiola, but passengers can change from bus to the metro at Niittykumpu station or to routes 118, 124 and 125 serving Merituulentie.
Also buses 548 and 549 running along Mankkaantie and bus 118 running along Mankkaanlaaksontie go to Tapiola.
In Westend, bus 105 will follow the route of bus 104. In the first draft plan, it was proposed that bus 105 would run along Westendintie instead of Westendinkatu due to the planned changes to route 111. However, we decided not to make changes to route 111. Consequently, bus 105 will follow the route of bus 104.
There will be no changes to the route of bus 111, Matinkylä (M) – Haukilahti – Westend – Tapiola (M) – Otaniemi (M). The bus will run between Matinkylä and Teekkarikylä as at present.
The rush hour / daytime / Saturday / Sunday headways will be:
15 / 15 / 15 / 30 minutes.
There was a lot of opposition to the proposed route change in Pohjois-Tapiola and we decided not to implement the planned change. Because the route of bus 111 will not change, we will not be able to extend route 52 via Pohjois-Tapiola to Tapiola due to cost reasons. Bus 52 will terminate in Maari.
Bus route 112, Tapiola (M) – Niittykumpu – Haukilahti – Matinkylä (M), will be withdrawn.
The route will be replaced by routes 114 and 105. Bus 114 will provide feeder services from Haukilahdenranta to Matinkylä and Niittykumpu. The bus will run at the same frequency as bus 112 currently.
The new route 105 will also improve transport links from Haukilahdenkatu to Niittykumpu. Route 111 will continue to run between Haukilahti and Tapiola as currently.
Bus 113, Tapiola (M) – Laajalahti – Friisinmäki – Leppävaara, will be rerouted.
The route will change between Laajalahti and Leppävaara. The bus will run from Laajalahti via Turvesuontie and Turveradantie to Friisinmäentie and Leppävaara. The change will enable a welcome connection to Retail Park Bredis.
The rush hour / daytime / Saturday / Sunday headways will be:
15 / 15 / 15 / 30 minutes.
In the future, Perkkaa will be served by light rail as well as by bus routes 202 or 203, 212, 213N and 502.
Journeys to Tapiola will require interchanges. Passengers going to Tapiola can change from light rail or from buses 202, 203 and 502 to new route 523 in Leppävaara. Alternatively, passengers can change from light rail to the metro or trunk route 510 in Otaniemi.
Southern parts of Perkkaa and Vermonniitty will be served by route 202 or 203 depending on the route of bus 520 to the north of Leppävaara. When the new routes start running, Vermonniitty will be served by route 202.
We examined the possibility of extending route 113 from Leppävaara station to Perkkaa. However, it is not possible to extend the route with the current funding. The extension would require at least one vehicle to be added on the route. This would incur additional costs of hundreds of thousands of euros per year.
Retaining the route of bus 113 unchanged would mean that the connection to Bredis could not be provided. In addition, other options should be considered to ensure transport links to Friisinmäki and this would increase costs.
The terminus of bus route 114 will move from Tapiola to Matinkylä. The new route is Matinkylä (M) – Urheilupuisto (M) – Mankkaa – Kilo – Leppävaara. Between Leppävaara and Urheilupuisto Metro Station, the route will remain unchanged.
The rush hour / daytime / Saturday / Sunday headways will be:
15 / 15 / 15 / 15 minutes.
The change will enable a welcome connection from Mankkaa to Matinkylä. Direct journeys to Tapiola can be made using routes 548 and 549.
Journeys from Kilo to Tapiola will require interchanges. Passengers going from Kilo to Tapiola can change from bus 114 to buses 548 or 549 in Mankkaa or to the metro at Urheilupuisto station. The buses run frequenty, enabling smooth interchanges.
Bus route 112 will be withdrawn. The rerouting of bus 114 will enable connections between Niittykumpu, Haukilahti and Matinkylä also in the future.
Bus route 115, Tapiola – Mankkaa, will be withdrawn.
Kokinkyläntie in Mankkaa will be served by the new route 105. The new route will bring significantly more frequent bus service to Kokinkyläntie.
There will no longer be a direct bus service to Tapiola, but passengers can change from bus to the metro at Niittykumpu station or to routes 118, 124 and 125 serving Merituulentie.
Buses 548 and 549 running along Mankkaantie and bus 118 running along Mankkaanlaaksontie also go to Tapiola.
Bus 118, Tapiola (M) – Kuuriinniitty – Suurpelto – Espoon keskus, will be rerouted.
The route will change between Suurpelto and Tapiola. The bus will be rerouted to run via the Orion employment area and Urheilupuisto Metro Station instead of Olarinluoma.
The rush hour / daytime / Saturday / Sunday headways will be:
10 / 15 / 15 / 30 minutes.
The route change will make journeys from Espoon keskus to Orion and Tapiola Sports Park easier. Olarinluoma will be served by the new route 105.
The route of bus 202 will change twice. At first, the bus will run via Vallikatu instead of Linnuntie in Lintulaakso. The route will be Lintuvaarantie, Vallikatu, Lintulaaksontie.
In addition, the route will be extended from Leppävaara station to Vermonniitty via Hevosenkenkä, Leppävaarankatu, Alberganesplanadi, Säterinkatu, Everstinkatu, Itsehallintotie and Vermontie.
Bus 202 will run via Vallikatu because we want to ensure sufficient public transport supply in the area when services are reduced on route 203. Walking distances from Linnuntie to bus stops along Lintulaaksontie or Lintuvaarantie are reasonable.
Routes 113 and 206(K) will provide connections from Leppävaara to Friisinmäki and Nuijala.
Because trunk route 520 will initially run via Painiitty, we are not proposing changes to the service frequency of route 202 between Leppävaara and Helmipöllönmäki at this stage.
The rush hour / daytime / Saturday / Sunday headways will be:
20 / 20 / 20 / 30 minutes.
Route of bus 202 via Vallikatu:
Once the new Lintulaaksontie street is completed, trunk route 520 will start running via it. At the same time, there will be changes to routes 202 and 203.
Services will be reduced on route 202 and the route will resume running via Linnuntie. The terminus will move from Vermonniitty to Leppävaara station. Bus 203 will serve journeys from Leppävaara to Vermonniitty.
The rush hour / daytime: 30 / 30 minutes. The route will not operate on weekends.
The route will provide supplementary service from Helmipöllönmäki to, for example, Leppävaara Sports Park and Monikko school center. The trunk route will significantly improve public transport services in Helmipöllönmäki.
Route of bus 202 via Linnuntie:
Route 203 will start running less frequently. The rush hour / daytime headways will be: 30 / 30 minutes. The bus will no longer run on weekends.
The reduced service is due to that trunk route 520 will initially run via Painiitty. The trunk route will be the main public transport link serving Uusmäki and Painiitty, providing new direct links to Myyrmäki and via Leppävaara to Matinkylä.
Despite the reduced service frequency the number of public transport services will increase in Uusmäki and Painiitty.
Route of bus 203 before the opening of Lintulaaksontie:
When the new Lintulaaksontie street is completed, trunk route 520 will start running via the new street. At the same time, there will be changes to routes 202 and 203.
Services will be increased on route 203 and the bus will resume weekend service. The route will be extended via Säterinkatu and Itsehallintotie to Vermonniitty. The terminus of bus route 202 will move to Leppävaara station.
The rush hour / daytime / Saturday / Sunday headways will be:
15 / 20 / 20 / 30 minutes.
Route of bus 203 after the opening of Lintulaaksontie:
A new bus route 206 will start running between Leppävaara and Kera. The bus will fun from Friisinmäentie via Nuijalantie, Nihtisillantie and Karamalmintie to Karapellontie.
The bus will replace the withdrawn service of bus 202 between Leppävaara and Vitikka. The bus will run via Säterinkatu, Monday to Friday. Nuijala will be served by route 114, which will also run on weekends.
A new route 206K will start running from Leppävaara via Kera to Kilo. The bus will run from Nihtisillantie via Lansantie, Lansanpurontie, Kilonpuistonkatu, Kilonkartanontie and Kilontie to Karamalmintie.
The rush hour / daytime headways of route 206(K) will be: 30 / 30 minutes.
Route 206K will provide connections from Kilo to the Swedish-speaking school in Karamalmi. The bus will run according to school times. The bus will run via Kilontie. The locations of bus stops on Kilontie will be confirmed later. The stops closest to the school will be Karaniitty and Kelkkamäki.
Route 225K will be withdrawn. Route 206K will not run via Karakallio like route 225K. The Swedish-speaking school in Karamalmi is accessible from Karakallio by buses 200 and 224.
Buses 212 and 213N will be rerouted via Laajalahti and Perkkaa.
The new route of bus 212 is Kamppi – Meilahti – Perkkaa – Laajalahti – Kauniainen.
The rush hour / daytime headways will be: 30 / 60 minutes. The route will not operate on weekends.
The new route of bus 213 is Kamppi – Meilahti – Perkkaa – Laajalahti – Suvela – Espoon keskus.
Bus 213N will operate in the evening, after the operating hours of route 212.
Buses 212 and 213 will run from Laajalahti via the Impilahti public transport bridge to Säteri, from where they will continue via Perkkaa to Turunväylä. In Laajalahti, the buses will run from Turvesuontie via Kirvuntie to Kurkijoentie.
After the route change, the buses will serve a significantly higher number of people than before.
Trunk route 520 will be rerouted between Leppävaara and Myyrmäki. At first, the trunk route was planned to run via the new Lintulaaksontie street. Because the street will not be completed in 2023, the bus will temporarily run via Painiityntie.
The rush hour / daytime / Saturday / Sunday headways will be:
10 / 10 / 10 / 15 minutes.
To the north of Leppävaara, there are two route options in the direction of Vihdintie and West Vantaa. We wanted to plan the temporary route via Painiityntie because it is as close to the final route as possible.
Routing the bus via Lintuvaarantie would have required substantial changes to buses serving West Vantaa. As the bus routes serving the area were revised in the Route Network Plan for Hämeenlinnanväylä and Vihdintie in 2020, we did not consider it necessary to overhaul the routes again
Because the aim is that trunk routes provide punctual and reliable service, distances between stops on trunk routes are longer than on other bus routes. Consequently, trunk route 520 will not serve the Heikunantie and Hilapellontie bus stops.
Route of trunk bus 520 via Painiityntie:
Route of bus 520 after the opening of Lintulaaksontie:
A new route 523 will start running from Westendinasema via Tapiola to Leppävaara.
The frequently running route will provide a new fast connection from Westendinasema to Tapiola and Leppävaara.
The rush hour / daytime / Saturday / Sunday headways will be:
10 / 15 / 15 / 15 minutes.
The bus will replace trunk bus route 550, which will be withdrawn when the light rail line 550 starts operating. The introduction of stops on Ring Road I between Kalevalantie and Tapiolantie will be confirmed when the execution of the plan starts.
Requests that could not be accommodated
We received feedback about not proposing a direct link from Haukilahti and Westend to Kamppi.
We understand that many customers would like to have a direct link and that changing to the metro feels like a nuisance when a bus would run directly to Kamppi in no time. Unfortunately, with the current funding it is not possible, for example, to extend route 105 to Kamppi.
We received quite a lot of feedback from people in Mäkkylä about shortcomings in public transport services in the area. In this route network plan we propose that trunk route 520 would start serving the Mäkkyläntie and Aseveljentie stops.
We did not propose any other changes to bus routes serving Mäkkylä but we will look into bus links parallel to Ring Road I in the near future.
This could affect also the Mäkkylä area.
We received a number of comments on the proposed changes to routes 212 and 213N, especially from people living in Laajalahti. Residents of Laajalahti were worried about the longer journey times following the route change as well as about the capacity of the route.
According to our estimates, the changes to routes 212 and 213N will lengthen journey times only by a few minutes because the length of the route will only change by a few hundreds of meters. Following the route change, thousands of more residents will be within walking distance of bus stops served by the routes than currently, as the route will also serve southern Perkkaa and Säteri.
Planning routes always involves compromises between various expectations, passenger numbers and funding available. In our view, the relatively small route change will in this case result in the route serving a larger number of customers that before.
Perkkaa will be served by light rail as well as by bus routes 202/203, 212, 213N and 502. Southern parts of Perkkaa and Vermonniitty will be served by route 202 or 203 depending on the route of bus 520 to the north of Leppävaara. When the operation of services under the new plan starts, Vermonniitty will be served by route 202.
Route 202 will provide transport links from Vermonniitty and Perkkaa to, e.g. the Monikko school center and Leppävaara Sports Park. The route will link with the light rail at Säteri, Vermo and Leppävaara station stops.
Bus 502 will run via Majurinkatu also in the future. Buses 212 and 213N will provide a direct link from Perkkaa to Kamppi on weekdays. In addition, the new routes of the buses will provide a direct link from Helsinki city center to Säteri and Perkkaa.
New route 523 will provide fast transport links from Leppävaara to Tapiola via Ring Road I.
We explored the possibilities of retaining a direct link between Perkkaa and Tapiola. Extending the route of bus 113 from Leppävaara to Perkkaa is not possible with the current funding. The extension would require at least one vehicle to be added on the route. This would incur additional costs of hundreds of thousands of euros per year. Alternatively, we would need to find cost-savings in the operation of another route.
One option was to change the route of buses 202/203 so that the buses would terminate in Leppävaara instead of Vermonniitty and route 113 would be extended from the Leppävaara terminal to Vermonniitty.
We received a lot of feedback about transport links in areas around Leppävaara and how they should be improved. For example, customers expressed a desire for routes that would run via the Leppävaara terminal, enabling direct links, for example, from Perkkaa to Leppävaara Sports Park. Such route changes would have meant that transport links within the areas around Leppävaara would have required interchanges.
Retaining the route of bus 113 unchanged would mean that the connection to Bredis could not be provided. In addition, other options should be considered to ensure transport links to Friisinmäki and this would increase costs.
Changes set out in previous route network plans
During the planning process, some people wondered why routes 532, 543, 544 and 555 were not shown on the maps. This is because decisions to withdraw and replace these routes have been made in conjunction with previous route network plans.
Changes to routes 532, 543 and 544 are set out in the route network plan for South Espoo.
Route 523 will be withdrawn when trunk route 520 starts.
Bus 544 will start running via Karamalmi. We will extend the operating hours of the route outside peak times and in the future, the route will provide a fast transport link from Espoonlahti to Leppävaara also on weekends.
Route 543 will be withdrawn because the resources of the route will be used for other routes.
Bus route 555 will no long run between Leppävaara and Keilaniemi from autumn 2023 in accordance with the route network plan for Hämeenlinnanväylä and Vihdintie. Route 522 (Leppävaara – Pähkinärinne – Hämeenkylä – Vantaankoski) will replace route 555 between Leppävaara and Lintuvaara.
The starting point for the plan was that bus services overlapping with the light rail line between Leppävaara and Keilaniemi will not be provided.