How HSL ticket prices are determined

HSL ticket prices are reviewed annually.

Prices are affected by the amount of funding HSL receives from municipalities through tax revenue and from customers through ticket revenue. This income is used to cover the costs of organizing public transport services. The higher the cost of providing public transport services, the more funding is needed from both municipalities and ticket revenue to cover these costs.

HSL is responsible for organizing public transport in the Helsinki region on behalf of its member municipalities. As part of this statutory role, the HSL Executive Board also sets ticket prices annually.

On this page, we explain in more detail how prices are determined and what affects them. We answer the following frequently asked questions:

How are HSL ticket prices decided?
Where does HSL’s funding come from?
What drives the cost of providing public transport?
What affects ticket prices?
Why doesn’t HSL lower prices – wouldn’t that increase ridership and ticket revenue?

A person is holdin a smartphone, with the HSL app open on the screen.

Infograafi, jossa kuvataan, miten HSL:n lippujen hinnoista päätetään vuoden kiertona. Vaiheet ovat: alkuvuosi – HSL aloittaa budjettien ja hintojen valmistelun; kesä – budjetti on jäsenkuntien arvioitavana; syksy – HSL viimeistelee budjettiesityksen ja hinnat; loppuvuosi – hallitus päättää hinnoista ja hyväksyy budjetin; vuodenvaihe – uudet hinnat tulevat voimaan.

How are HSL ticket prices decided?

Ticket prices are reviewed annually as part of HSL’s budget and the Operational and Financial Plan.

Preparations begin early in the year, when HSL assesses the costs for the coming year and estimates passenger numbers. Based on these, HSL prepares a preliminary Operational and Financial Plan, which is submitted to all member municipalities for comments in the summer.

HSL’s Executive Board decides the final ticket prices in late autumn. The Board consists of representatives from different political parties in the member municipalities.

To support the Board’s decision, HSL prepares a proposal, that is, a preliminary suggestion for ticket prices for the following year. In preparing the proposal, particular attention is paid to the estimated costs of providing public transport and how much the municipalities are willing to contribute to HSL. This makes it possible to assess how much ticket revenue is needed to cover the remaining costs, in other words, how much tickets should cost.

Infograafi, jossa kerrotaan, mistä HSL saa tuloja. Tulolähteet on esitetty sinisin kuvakkein: myydyt liput, kuntien maksamat osuudet ja muut tulot. Oikealla kädessä näkyy puhelin, jossa on HSL:n mobiililipun QR-koodi.

Where does HSL’s funding come from?

HSL’s operations are mainly funded by two sources:

tax revenue from HSL’s member municipalities and neighboring municipalities, which pay HSL compensation for organizing public transport – these are referred to as municipal contributions, and
ticket revenue from tickets purchased by customers.

Municipal contributions cover just over half of HSL’s costs, while ticket revenue covers slightly less than half. In addition, HSL receives small amounts of other income, such as subsidies and penalty fare revenue.

Because HSL’s member municipalities and neighboring municipalities subsidize ticket prices for their residents, tickets are more expensive for people living outside the HSL area and neighboring municipalities.

Infograafi, jossa kuvataan, mikä joukkoliikenteessä maksaa. Violettiin ympyröihin on merkitty kulut: kulkuneuvot, ajaminen ja varikot; asemat, raiteet ja terminaalit; lipunmyyntijärjestelmä, henkilöstö ja toimitilat. Lisäksi vihreä ympyrä kertoo, että arvonlisävero lisätään lipun hintaan. Oikealla näkyy käsi, joka pitää puhelinta, jossa on HSL:n mobiililipun QR-koodi.

What drives the cost of public transport?

The majority of costs relate to service operation. HSL procures services from operators, such as bus companies, and pays them operating compensation. These payments are referred to as operating costs. With this compensation, operators ensure that the services procured by HSL run as agreed and that, for example, buses meet the required standards.

HSL also pays infrastructure compensation to its member municipalities so that public transport infrastructure, such as Metro tracks, stations and terminals, can be used for public transport. If infrastructure is developed and, for example, new tramways or bus terminals are built, this will increase HSL’s costs in the future while also improving the level of service for passengers.

In addition, a small share of funding is used for HSL’s other activities, such as systems and administrative costs.

What affects ticket prices?

Ticket prices are mainly influenced by public transport infrastructure and operating costs. These costs increase when the region invests in new rail lines, depots or rolling stock. The higher the overall costs of public transport, the more both passengers and municipalities contribute towards covering them.

HSL aims to keep ticket prices reasonable so that public transport remains an attractive and competitive option compared to other modes of travel. At the same time, the cities in the Helsinki region have set a target that the share of funding provided by municipalities should be no more than 55% of HSL’s revenue by 2029. This target guides how ticket prices are set.

Why doesn’t HSL lower fares – wouldn’t that increase ridership and fare revevenue?

Providing public transport always involves costs that must primarily be covered either by fare revenue or municipal funding.

If fares were lowered, passenger numbers might increase. However, based on research and previous fare trials, fare revenue typically decreases even when passenger numbers increase, because lower fares generate less revenue.

For example, in 2024, the prices of AB, BC and CD tickets were reduced. Passenger numbers increased by 4.9%, but ticket revenue decreased by 1.1% compared to the previous year.

Lowering fares is therefore not necessarily possible, as HSL must ensure sufficient fare revenue to cover the costs of public transport.

The use of public transport can also be increased by improving service quality, such as service frequency and route supply. However, improving service levels also increases costs, which may be reflected in fares unless municipal funding increases.

HSL aims to keep increases in fares as moderate as possible. At the same time, HSL is developing new ways to make travelling easier and to encourage more people to choose public transport.