The competitive bidding held in January included also bus services in Kerava. The service contracts for Kerava will be awarded on 4 March. Six bids were submitted for the services and their processing takes time. As only one bid was received for each contract for the services in Kirkkonummi and Sipoo, the award process took less time.
As of August, bus services in Sipoo and Kirkkonummi will be organized using a new contract model in which the operator plans the timetables according to routes and service level guidelines determined by HSL. The new contract model encourages operators to provide as high quality of service as possible in an efficient way. The operator compensation paid by HSL will increase after the first year of the contract if passenger numbers increase. HSL purchases the services together with the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for Uusimaa (ELY Centre); the ELY Centre is responsible for routes extending outside the HSL area.
As of August, 15 bus routes will operate in both Sipoo and Kirkkonummi. The competitive bidding included 14 of the routes in Kirkkonummi. HSL has simplified the route network in both of the municipalities by reducing the number of different route versions. In Sipoo, 22 vehicles are needed Monday to Friday. The route kilometers total 2.1 million a year. In Kirkkonummi, 31 vehicles are needed Monday to Friday and the route kilometers amount to 2.8 million.
New buses will enter into service on the routes now tendered at the beginning of 2015. Most of the services will be operated with low-floor buses. In total 17 new low-floor buses will enter into service in Sipoo and 24 in Kirkkonummi. In Sipoo, nine of the new buses will be bogie buses, which are bigger than the current buses. In addition, one new minibus will enter into service in both of the municipalities. The new buses will be Euro6 compliant with significantly lower local emissions than the current buses. The buses will be equipped with air conditioning, ignition interlocks, surveillance cameras at doors and a driving style monitoring system. Drivers’ safety will be improved by safety cabins and camera surveillance.
List of bus routes and operators in Sipoo and Kirkkonummi in August 2014