The prices of city internal adult season tickets will go up from 49.50 euros to 52.60 euros (30 day pass). The price of a corresponding regional adult season ticket will rise by 3.80 euros from 98.60 euros to 102.40 euros. The prices of city internal season tickets increase more than those of regional season tickets to reduce the price gap between them. HSL’s member municipalities subsidize, in particular, their residents’ season tickets. Without the subsidies, the fares would be on average twice the current fares.
The biggest increases will be seen in the prices of single tickets, which will rise by on average 8.1 per cent. The price of adult city internal single ticket will rise by 20 cents from 3 euros to 3.20 euros, while the price of adult regional single ticket will rise from 5 euros to 5.50 euros. Single fares are cheaper with the Travel Card: adult city internal value tickets will cost 2.06 euros and adult regional value tickets 4.04 euros next year. The pricing structure is designed to increase people to use the Travel Card: Travel Card customers get better benefits than occasional users of public transport.
The biggest reason for the fare rises are the increased infrastructure costs incurred by large public transport projects: the Ring Rail Line opened this year, the West Metro set to start operating in August 2016 and the expansion of the Metro depot and new control system. The infrastructure costs will increase from the estimated 68.6 million euros this year to 99 million euros next year. In 2017, the costs will amount to 130 million euros.
“According to the Helsinki Region Transport System Plan HLJ 2015, public transport is developed so that eco-friendly rail services that conveniently serve large numbers of passengers form the backbone of the transport system. The infrastructure costs incurred by rail investments are partly covered by ticket revenue. Consequently, there is considerable pressure to increase fares in the coming years if we want to maintain the high level of public transport service across the region," says HSL Executive Director Suvi Rihtniemi.
The combined cost of the Ring Rail Line and the first phase of the West Metro amount to nearly two billion euros. The municipalities’ share of this is about 860 million euros for the first phase of the West Metro and 235 million euros for the Ring Rail Line.
Half of the costs of public transport investments in the HSL area are paid by the municipality where the investment is made. The other half is paid by HSL. HSL’s main income sources are ticket revenue and municipal contributions. The member municipalities have stated that maximum 50 per cent of the expenses may be covered by municipal contributions. Because of the increased infrastructure costs, either the fares or municipal contributions have to be increased significantly more than over the recent years.
HSL proposes an increase for the penalty fare from 80 euros to 100 euros in 2016.The amount of the penalty fare is fixed by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The fare has remained the same since 2007.