Nearly 40 per cent of the night metro passengers have traveled between Ruoholahti and Kalasatama. There have been about a thousand fewer passengers on the night buses serving eastern Helsinki per night compared to previous years.
HSL has received positive feedback on the night metro but on the other hand, people living along the metro line have complained about increased noise.
The two extra hours of metro service cost about €4,400 per night, taking into consideration the savings from night buses. During the Christmas party season, a night metro journey cost about €1.10, in January and February about €1.90 while the overall operating cost per metro journey is about €0.40. Night time journeys are then clearly more costly than daytime journeys.
There have been more fare dodgers on the late night services than on the daytime services. The share of fare dodgers on the night metro is over five per cent when normally the share is under three per cent. By the end of February, HSL had issued some one thousand penalty fares on the night metro.
There have been more disturbances on the late night services than at other times. During the Christmas party season, in particular, the use of alcohol on the metro trains was common. However, there have been no serious disturbances.
The trial will run until mid-June. HSL's management will decide on the continuation probably already during March.