65 Degrees North - News and views from Oulu - Oulu Bus Tickets Too Expensive

Oulu Bus Tickets Too Expensive

By News

Wednesday, 18 November 2009

Oulu's bus tickets cost the most out of all of Finland's large cities, according to a report in today's Kaleva.

In southern Finland's big cities - such as Helsinki and Tampere - walk-on bus-tickets are not only cheaper but many tickets have far more favourable conditions attached to them.

There have been recent discussions over changing the time limits on walk-on bus-tickets in the city. At the moment, a ticket is valid for an hour and a half after the time of purchase. However, it is only valid for one further bus-ride. In other cities, it can be used on as many buses as the passenger wishes. The system also takes no account of buses not being on time.

The city's public transport system costs 5 million euros per year which the city subsidises to the the tune of 3.9 million euros. By contrast, Tampere operates its own public transport system which it funds to the tune of 37 million euros. Walk-on tickets are also considerably cheaper than in Oulu, costing only two euros. In Oulu, a similar ticket costs E 2.90 as long as it is within the city.

In Espoo, a bus ticket within the city costs E2.50 and is valid for an hour and the system operates in Helsinki. However, Rovaniemi's buses are even more expensive than Oulu's. E2.90 buys you one trip and nothing more.

Comments (4)

1. 18-11-2009 16:13

Written by Andy Crofts

Oh, heck...N13n*? Noooo!!

...a word springs to mind.
"Nationalisation*"
Please, Finland, don't even go that way.
Didn't realise that the ticket was only good for 2 trips max. That's just plain daft. It's already time-limited - presumably Koskilinjat's time limit of 1½ hours doubles to 3 hours when the summer timetable is in force, and only half the buses are running? No? Thought not.

*Geek shorthand: N13n - 'N', separated by 13 letters, then another 'n'.
Like I18n - Internationalisation.

2. 18-11-2009 22:29

Written by Mark

2 trips max? what a silly rule - unenfor

I would like to know how they expect to enforce this rule.

3. 19-11-2009 10:37

Written by Andy Crofts

2 trips enforcement

Last time I was on a bus the driver took my ticket, and gave me another. I didn't read it, but I guess that's how.

4. 29-01-2010 05:15

Written by Andy Crofts

Change in bus tickets! Shock! Horror! Pr

Dunno if anyone noticed - I did to my cost this morning - that the time for a bus ticket (so that one can continue the journey on a different bus) has changed from 90 minutes to 60, as of first of January 2010. PLUS it's no longer possible to use one ticket to pop into town and back. Returning on the same route is now 'kielletty'. Of course, I've kicked up a stink to Koskilinjat, but I guess to no avail - all seems to have changed with them recently. First, the familiar Buscom ticket machines have been replaced, they're changing the colour of the buses to white, with a blue stripe, and I believe they've been bought by a new corporation. Finally, as of a while ago, the ticket office in Oulu has gone, so Stockmann's really the only option for us foreigners to buy tickets.
Why, oh why can't things get better, not worse

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