How did Helsinki make transit work in the suburbs? | Navigating Urban Transit with George Liu

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Don't forget to turn on subtitles!
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How can efficient suburban transit be achieved with limited metro lines and bus services? Helsinki (Finland) offers an inspiring example and George Liu went there to see it. By optimising bus routes and enhancing its single metro line, Helsinki has successfully created a reliable and cohesive transit system for its suburban areas. This approach highlights the importance of strategic planning and resourceful use of existing infrastructure. Join us in this UMX video as we explore the transformative impact of Helsinki's transit solutions on suburban mobility.

#Helsinki #PublicTransport #Metro #Bus #UMX

This episode is the fourth in our series, "Navigating Urban Transit" featuring George Liu. In each episode, George travels to a different European city to discover its public transit system and its unique characteristics. Stay tuned to find out where he will go next!
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This video was shot in August 2023. Many thanks to George Liu, Jonathan English and Jedwin Mok for their tremendous work on this video!
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[Nitsudog]

I visited Helsinki straight from Copenhagen with its wide selection of metro lines. I was admittedly surprised when I saw the Helsinki transit map showing only 1 metro line - but when you overlay the tram routes on top, then add the busses, all of which are are able to be accessed via a single ticket, it all makes sense.

[Nimqo]

The city and the surrounding metropolitan area also has a sizeable commuter train network.

[shroomyesc]

A good mention is also that there's a reason for the two colours of buses, orange buses stop less frequently and thus do longer connections faster and always connect to a major transit hub plus you don't need to show your ticket to the driver so enter through whichever door you want, while the blue buses work in a more typical way with frequent stops and front entry only.

[baaaabaa]

As a person from northern helsinki i think you missed a massive part of the capital areas public transport, the train.

Trains in helsinki are the primary transport for moving people on the north-south axis from and to the city centre, much like the metro does on the east-west axis.

The larger capital area is populated in such a way that the population density spreads like a semi-circle, not only east and west (which in my opinion is the impression that the video could leave on unknowing viewers).

The two train lines (one going north-west and the other north-east), along with the metro lines, lay the foundations of the transportation web with both taking equal responsibility and with the bus routes filling out the details left in-between.

Amazing video tho and this channel was a wonderful find, the algorithm brought a blessed gift, all hail the algorithm.

[aurelspecker]

I just visited Helsinki, and I gotta say, Helsinki has probably the best urban design I have yet seen. It has high density buildings, a tight transit network and still not forgetting the green spaces (ok, "white spaces" for half of the year).

All new developments have good walking paths, bicycle paths and transit access. Ground level is designed that shops and gastronomy can take place. And the buildings are high density, but not in a way that makes one feel small and caged in.

They obviously know exactly what they are doing. Only pitty is: Finnish winters.

[Rebochan]

As an American who's lived in Finland since 2019... its nice to see this breakdown of my local transit network and why it works so well. I never really stopped to consider how critical the entire Länsimetro project (the initiative name for all of this) was since for me, it's just always been here. I had the convenience of moving here about a year after after the first westward expansion opened and have lived in Matinkyla, literally next to that Metro stop in the video, almost the entire time. It is a bit surreal seeing a YouTube video showing off the shopping center next to my home XD I could recognize every single stop you showed in the video too because something fun they did was have unique art designs for each stop.

My American friends and family who visit are always amazed at the convenience of the transit system and they're jealous I don't need to own a car out here! But I think its not impossible to do this in American suburbs - though it requires a consistent commitment given the length of time and cost to make it a reality. The westward extension project in Espoo took about 15 years from final approval to the full line opening all the way. Not an overnight solution, but a forward thinking one.

Thanks for this cool video!

[neurofiedyamato]

Good transit heiarchy is basically the solution

[adamspencer]

I hope every town has this kind of connectivity someday

[millamin]

In american terms: The metro is the arterial road and the bus is the local road 😄

[blinder]

Recently Espoo published a plan to Add two new branches to the metro line to serve the nort-south - traffic better.

[wixardo]

I'm not Finnish but I moved to Finland almost entirely because of its public transit. I'm in my late 20's now and I don't have a car nor a drivers license, and there has never been a moment where I felt like I needed one. It's been really convenient and has saved me a ton of money in the long run.

[osku]

Very nice video, George, but it's a little misleading. Most of it was about Espoo, which is a city on its own. Here in Helsinki, the metro is complimented with trams, commuter trains, buses, and - of course - walking and biking. Helsinki has sprawl, but nothing like Espoo. I don't want to be mean, but this video would be comparable to labeling a video on Toronto's transit and then mainly talking about buses in Mississauga :)

[Rishadan]

I'm sure somebody already mentioned it but an important part of our public transit and the transfers system is that the same ticket is valid for all transportations whether it's metro, local train, bus, tram or the ferry. The ticket is valid for 90 minutes and during that time you can transfer as many times as you please without any extra cost. You can also finish your journey without having to buy a new ticket if you're in the middle of your train journey for example when the ticket expires.

[lakuholden]

6:52 This is genius for a bus terminal, I love it! It also makes the buses feel like a higher form of transit.

[ellav]

The capital region is also going through a kind of LRT phase now. They recently built a ring line and are planning one more as well. Then there's 1 in Vantaa, 1 in Espoo and a few more in Helsinki going out to suburbs. I do however hope they convert the Malmi airport line to a metro instead as it has potential for really high capacity.

[kusalaom]

Those blue and orange bus color schemes are gorgeous and clean

[xremming]

Your pronunciation of Espoo and Helsinki were really really good! Almost suspiciously so... 😄
It's always interesting to see how a place one has lived their whole life looks to other people and this was an interesting look at the eventual success of länsimetro (west-metro, as it is called in Finnish), which I can assure you did not go through without hiccups. It is so easy to focus on the problems and annoyances of a system that you use daily that you only ever realize how good it actually is when you either see public transit in other cities or someone from the outside marveling at it.

[BgLupu]

What Helsinki and Tampere have been able to achieve with their revolutionary thinking to public transit is truly a miracle.

[GirtonOramsay]

I live in a California suburb with all of these elements: good bus route network and all buses converge on a light rail station to get into the bigger city. But the bus frequencies are 30 or 60 minutes on most routes during the week. Only the Main St bus route runs every 20 mins. It's still one of the busiest light rail stations in the system though. We could be so much better like Espoo with more transit funding. I wish we had 5-10 min bus frequencies anywhere.

[johncrwarner]

I have never lived in Helsinki
but have visited often and to be honest
I used the trams and bus all the time
using the tram as the arterial route into the city centre
because the HSL tram and bus services were punctual
and when it is cold
they can give you an alert for the next tram / bus coming in x minutes.