HSL Operational and Financial Plan 2018-2020: trunk routes, digital services and tendering of train services

In the coming years, an increasing number of public transport journeys in the HSL area will be made on high-frequency trunk routes. Digitalization of tickets and services will continue and the tendering of train services will commence.

The HSL area trunk route network will strengthen in the coming years when Metro services to Espoo start operating and HSL opens new trunk bus routes. The light-rail link 550 from Itäkeskus to Keilaniemi is set to start operating in 2021.

One of HSL’s key goals for the next few years is to create digital services which facilitate the use of public transport. Customers are involved in the development of the new services.

An HSL Idea Lab will be established to test new operating models for mobility services, to develop HSL’s array of services and identify HSL’s role in the MaaS (Mobility as a Service).  

There will be changes to ticket pricing and sales. In 2018, HSL will introduce a new pricing model based on zones independent of municipal boundaries. Tickets will be increasingly purchased by mobile or online, when the online top up of Travel Cards is introduced and the number of tickets available by mobile increases.

HSL will be tendering commuter train services for the first time in 2018-2020. The new service contract will take effect from June 2021.

HSL continues to promote sustainable transport. The goal is nearly zero-emission public transport by 2025. Achievement of the goal requires, for example, increasing the use of electric buses and renewable fuels. HSL’s interim goal is for 90 per cent of bus services procured by HSL to run on biofuels by the end of 2019.

The HSL area will expand at the beginning of 2018 whenTuusula and Siuntio become member of HSL. HSL has started planning the public transport networks of the new member municipalities.

HSL’s budget 2018

In 2018, HSL’s operating income is estimated to amount to 718.3 million euros, an increase of 7.7 per cent from the previous year. Ticket revenue accounts for 50.7 per cent of the operating income. Ticket revenue is estimated to increase by slightly less than two per cent from 2017.

The expenses that cannot be covered by ticket revenue or other income are covered by municipal contributions paid by the member municipalities. In the 2018 budget, municipal contributions total 337.8 million euros accounting for 47 per cent of HSL’s operating income.

The State subsidies for public transport in large cities is estimated to amount to 4.9 million in 2018-2020, accounting for slightly less than one per cent of HSL's operating income.

In 2018, HSL's operating expenses will total 722.9 million euros, an increase of 10.4 per cent from 2017. At nearly 511.1 million euros, public transport operating costs are the largest item of expenditure.

HSL pays compensation for its member municipalities for the use of public transport infrastructure owned by the municipalities. In 2018, the compensations amount to 141.5 million euros.

HSL’s investment costs amount to 22.9 million euros. The biggest investments, in total 11 million euros, are going to the development of mobile and online services as well development of customer and sales applications.