Helsinki and Tallinn consider establishment of common ticketing system for public transport

Estonians to investigate need of common ticket and technical compatibility

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If new proposals materialise, it may be possible in the future to travel on the public transport systems of Helsinki and the Estonian capital Tallinn using the same tickets.
      The municipal board of Tallinn budgeted more than EUR 10,000 earlier this week for an investigation into the possibility of a common ticket system, at the same time that the ticket systems of Tallinn and its nearby municipalities are merged.
      "The unification of the ticket systems of Greater Helsinki and Tallinn is only on the ideas level oat present", notes Terje Villem, a city official in Tallinn. The aim of this year's study is to ascertain the need for and the technical feasibility of a common system.
     
Niilo Järviluoma, director of transport for the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (YTV), sees the unification of the ticketing system as a basic prerequisite for more extensive cooperation. YTV plans to revamp its present ticketing system in around 2010.
      "We are primarily renewing our system so that it will be able to communicate with public transport systems in other Finnish cities. It is not impossible that it might be compatible with systems in neighbouring countries."
      Järviluoma does not see a regional travel card as a very pressing need, noting that commuting to work between Helsinki and Tallinn is unlikely to increase that much.
      "However, we could start, for instance, with the inclusion of a common travellers' card among our selection of products", Järviluoma ponders.
     
There are no plans to harmonise ticket tariffs in the two cities, even though prices across the water are rising, and a ticket bought from the driver already costs almost as much in Tallinn - about one euro - as in Helsinki. A one-month pass in Tallinn costs EUR 15.60.


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  HKL - Helsinki City Transport

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