Skip to main content

Helsinki integrates new bike-share program with public transportation system

As part of its overall plan to promote cycling, the Finnish capital Helsinki has introduced a public bike-share program that is linked seamlessly with the metropolitan area's multi-modal public transportation system. Launched at the beginning of May 2016 with 500 three-speed, adult-sized bikes and 50 docking throughout the inner city, the program will expand to 1,500 bikes, 150 stations and to further city districts in 2017. The Helsinki metropolitan area public transportation system incorporates a
May 27, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
As part of its overall plan to promote cycling, the Finnish capital Helsinki has introduced a public bike-share program that is linked seamlessly with the metropolitan area's multi-modal public transportation system.

Launched at the beginning of May 2016 with 500 three-speed, adult-sized bikes and 50 docking throughout the inner city, the program will expand to 1,500 bikes, 150 stations and to further city districts in 2017.

The Helsinki metropolitan area public transportation system incorporates a subway, streetcars, commuter trains, buses, ferries, and now bike share. All modes of public transportation are included in the regional Journey Planner, which finds the optimal route from point A to point B using all modes of transportation. The Helsinki Travel Card, a smartcard used to pay for trips, can now be used for personal identity verification in the bike-share program.

Features of the bike-share program include online registration, digital control boxes on bike handlebars used to operate the bikes, fixed docking stations and renewable energy to power the system. The bike docking stations are powered by in-built solar panels. The bikes' control boxes are continuously charged through a bike hub dynamo system.

The Journey Planner indicates the locations of bike docking stations and, in real time, the number of bikes available at each station.

Related Content

  • US Cities push for smarter poles
    June 25, 2018
    US Cities The need to connect existing infrastructure has led various US transit authorities into imaginative alleyways: David Crawford examines some new roles for street furniture. US cities are vying with each other in developing schemes to create a new generation of connected places. Their strategies include taking advantage of their streetlight poles’ height and ubiquity to give them new roles in supporting intelligent nodes. They are now being equipped for collecting real-time data on key transport
  • The Middle East takes lead in urban mobility
    November 24, 2017
    Ralf Baron, Thomas Kuruvilla, Morsi Berguiga, Michael Zintel, Joseph Salem and Mario Kerbage from Arthur D. Little explain why there is much to be learned from the Middle East about the rapid evolution of transport systems. The rapid urbanisation across the globe is leading to mobility challenges as cities struggle to ensure their populations can move around freely using both public and private transport. Solving these issues is critical to ensuring that cities thrive and attract the investment and
  • Monitoring during construction reveals benefits of new expressway
    June 6, 2014
    David Crawford reports on how the authorities in New Zealand are using Bluetooth technology to monitor the effects of a new expressway as it is being constructed. New Zealand Highway Agency (NZHA) is using Bluetooth-based vehicle detection to assess the impact of its biggest road building project as the various sections are completed. The large-scale deployment of a Bluetooth-based vehicle detection system is making substantial contributions to traffic data needs in progressing the new Waikato Expressway, a
  • Low-CO2, two-wheel road to Hamburg
    September 14, 2021
    Ertico exec cycling from Brussels to ITS World Congress to highlight climate change