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.
UTC

Related Content

  • July 21, 2020
    Ito World bike-share data comes to Google Maps
    Riders will be able to use Maps to open bike-share apps to book and unlock a bike
  • June 17, 2016
    Sampo Hietanen’s mobility mission
    For a decade Sampo Hietanen harboured a vision of an alternative form of mobility, now as CEO of MaaS Finland he is putting theory into practice. Sampo Hietanen has become the embodiment of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) – a concept he created 10 years ago while working for Finnish civil engineering giant Destia. “I had been working with the mobile sector on traffic information and started thinking what will happen when this becomes bigger,” he says.
  • November 13, 2014
    Seattle opts for smart parking
    The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has partnered with the IPS Group, the city’s new parking pay station vendor in a project to replace all the city’s parking pay stations with new technology in 2015-2016. The US$20 million contract runs for seven years and will replace 1,500 older pay stations with new IPS MS1 pay stations, and retrofit 700 of the city’s newer pay stations with new technology and components. Available in pay-by-space, pay-and-display and pay-by-plate models, the solar-pow
  • July 2, 2024
    Multimodal link-up in Vancouver
    Metro Vancouver sees the value in seamless travel between modes and is pushing ahead with a new pilot designed to make it a reality. David Arminas reports on the RideLink project