Your Small City Can Have More Transit | Helsinki

Helsinki is a city much smaller than your average North American major cities, but what it does have are multiple transit modes - metro, tram, commuter rail - that all work together to provide seamless transit for its residents - something we can learn a lot about.

Special thanks to Aidan Powell & Edison Zhang for providing footage used in this video!

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Ever wondered why your city's transit just doesn't seem quite up to snuff? RMTransit is here to answer that, and help you open your eyes to all of the different public transportation systems around the world!

Reece (the RM in RMTransit) is an urbanist and public transport critic residing in Toronto, Canada, with the goal of helping the world become more connected through metros, trams, buses, high-speed trains, and all other transport modes.

[RMTransit]

Folks, as mentioned in the video - Helsinki is *comparatively* small. There is no objective measurement of comparative city size, but RMTransit is a global YouTube channel and compared to the cities we often talk about with grand metro and regional rail systems, Helsinki just is not that large at around 1 million people. Even within the general area, Helsinki is smaller than Copenhagen and Stockholm while, still having a metro system. This is not a dig at Helsinki, but rather me praising the city for having an impressive transportation network given its size! I have spent time in the city, and I really enjoyed it!

[nio]

Tampere, another city in Finland, recently built a tram network (well, two whole lines) that replaced one of our busiest bus lines and I have to say it's been a *massive* improvement. The tram is much more comfortable than a bus and I have yet to see it packed full of people, unlike the bus which sometimes would be so full that it would skip stops because there would literally be no space to take on more passengers.

The tram project completed ahead of schedule and as far as I can tell has just been a massive success by every metric.

[allws]

11:50 Those metro stations were not built 'oversized' without reason : They double also as an escape route nuclear bunker ! Helsinki alone has over 5000 underground bunker sites, often with peace time functions like indoor sport centres, karting track, children playground, underground parking, children playground centre and even a swimming pool ..Back in the day I had a big Student Tecno party, with a couple of thousand, in a bunker in Tampere (fittingly named 'Boombarit' or something like that ..)

(Toronto is not the only town with an 'underground city' 😉)

[OnkelJajusBahn]

For me as a European, when reading the title I thought you would mention a city with under 100.000 inhabitants that still has a tramway system. Because there are many cities like that.
I don't think of Helsinki as a small city.
Still a good video though.

[KannikCat]

When I visited Helsinki we used public transit exclusively and it never even occurred to me that Helsinki might be a "small" city. The amount of and coverage of transit never left us wanting. Helsinki is A++. :)

[nhkr]

You mentioned the already-dug metro stop under Kamppi, as a preparation for a future north-south line, which is a really cool thing but not the only one! There are five stations for the metro that have already been dug, the most recent one in 2019 at the Tripla shopping center. This is all due to the economies of working underground in Helsinki- digging extra caverns, once you're down there, is fairly cheap. There are also several places where underground space is reserved for a commuter loop through the center.

Both of these plans are extremely unlikely to happen in the next decade, or even the next 30 years, but it's cool to see people thinking ahead.

[TrolliNaattori]

I’m suprised that you didn’t mention the ”Kruunusillat” project. It is basically a new express-tram-line that connects islands in Helsinki. The tramline will include Finland’s longest bridge. It’s intresting because no car is allowed on that bridge. Only pedestrians, cyclists and trams. Im sure there is some info in english if you are intrested. Good video!

[japanesetrainandtravel]

This show is my Saturday morning coffee! When I think of small city and transit I think of Lausanne, Switzerland - a population of 130, 000 people that has an automated subway with high annual ridership. The thing about more transit in small cities is that these cities need to be developed around transit - ie dense areas where high capacity warrants high capacity vehicles and where a transit stop is with in a 10 minute walk. In North America, it takes forever to walk from a residential area to a main road to catch a bus. Side note - have you noticed that aside from Kennedy Station, there are no parking spots along line 5?

[ismoleppanen]

Helsinki tram network is expanding, with a new route to Ilmala district opening in October. The second tram system in Finland was opened in Tampere in August 2021. There are currently two routes, and extension of route 3 is under construction. The Tampere network uses standard gauge of 1435 mm.

[humanecities]

I really appreciate hearing about which mode of transit is more ideal for which situation. This is what I’m constantly explaining to people: it’s about the right tool for the job. Cars aren’t evil, but we’re using them in situations where other tools would be better.

[Mickelraven]

As someone born and raised in Helsinki, I have never felt so honoured and patriotic about my home while watching this video. Great video, and the good ol' orange coloured metro will always be my favourite! :)

[ChristianJull]

I moved to Helsinki from the UK over 13 years ago. I brought my car with me, but soon realised it was a bad option. Very expensive to run (in Finland) and expensive to park (in Helsinki). Within two years it was sold and I've only used the public transport ever since. Of course, there are occasions when it is a pain not having a car (e.g. transporting heavy stuff), but these are mostly one-offs. The biggest problem now is having ridiculously raised expectations of the system. Being annoyed at having to change once or twice to get to certain places, or having to walk 500 metres! I then remind myself of the UK....

[laurilahtinen]

Great video as always! Not sure if this was already addressed in the comments, but I think the massive underground bus terminal at Kamppi would've warranted a mention too :D It serves both local and intercity buses and is located in the same complex as the metro station of the same name, although the transfer between the two isn't the shortest

[txbornviking]

I had to good fortune to live in Helsinki for the summer of 2006 and while I had previously visited European cities it was the first place I had the "holy sh!t, why can't we have transit and development like this where I'm from" moment. Seeing service AND new development happen at the same time, working to support one another left me agog. Living there on an architectural work/study I kept asking my Finnish colleagues to explain to me how this was happening and they mostly just shrugged not understanding how I found something so amazing, that was to them so commonplace.

[peterbengston]

I recently had an overnight layover in Helsinki and found that taking the train from the airport to the main train station was incredibly convenient and fast. The train almost felt like a metro. I was very impressed and wished it was so easy in New York City.

[MikaelLevoniemi]

Also Helsinki metro was the shortest in the world when it was built. The metro was super expensive to build because instead of stations just below ground level we built bunkers, stations that would double up as bomb shelters. All major city center metro stations have massive steel doors just in front of the escalators. Part of the metro money were unofficially embezzled from the metro project towards other underground infrastructure and tunnels which were kept secret up until the 90s and the end of cold war. Citys military defence projects were camouflaged with embezzling scandals yet nowadays the city has enough tunnels and infra to house a brigade or two underground and move around to all parts of the city.

[johnson]

I was recently in Helsinki for a couple of days, and it was the most pleasant city to get around in, I have ever been in. I actually got to try both the commuter rail, tram, metro and ferry. It was so easy to figure out, cheap, fast and so convenient in every way.

[marcelwiszowaty]

Helsinki is definitely on my list of cities to visit, not least for its transit network. However friends of mine who visited there a few years ago really loved it. Don't know when I'll get there... but I *will* get there! Interesting overview... as always.

[StrassenbahnBen]

This is one of your best videos! I remember a few years back when you opted for rapid transit mainly. You were treating metros and trams as opponents. But in fact, they're on the same team. That's together with buses and trains. I'm glad you've changed your approach. :)

[miridium]

The footage at 9:02 is not of the metro, but the local train that runs to the airport! It goes underground for a couple of miles in order to take passengers close to the airport terminals!
(technically this is also in Vantaa, which is a different city, but eh, Helsinki Capital Region regardless, the transportation network is all handled by the same group, and only a local would be able to tell when you cross the border between one city and the other)