Nearly half of Helsinki Metro passengers have safety worries

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Of all forms of public transport, the Helsinki Metro has been found to awaken the greatest amount of unease among passengers. According to a study conducted last year, nearly half of all passengers using the Metro have safety concerns. One in five bus passengers have similar feelings, as do one in three who use Helsinki’s trams.
      Police see the Metro as a relatively safe place to be. "The Metro is no more dangerous than the city in general", says Chief Inspector Pekka Nilsson of the police in Itäkeskus in the east of Helsinki.
     
Last year police were called to deal with a disturbance on the Helsinki Metro 750 times. By way of comparison, there were about 10,600 requests for police assistance in the Kluuvi region in the centre of Helsinki.
      Most typically, police are summoned to the Metro to remove intoxicated passengers, to deal with troublemakers travelling without a valid ticket, and to investigate thefts.
      Security guards removed 12,000 people from Metro stations in 2005, and 2,300 from Metro trains. This averages out to 40 such events every day. A crackdown on bad behaviour on the Metro in March through June is expected to improve the figures for this year.
     
Real security and the sense of security are never the same thing", notes Dr. Hille Koskela, an expert on urban geography. She adds that isolated acts, such as the killing of a passenger by a deranged person with an axe, can have a strong influence on perceptions.
      Travelling underground, and the difficulty of getting to the surface, can make people feel uncomfortable.
      Koskela notes that some people take a negative view of what the Metro brings with it: dense urban construction and restless neighbourhoods.
     
The Helsinki Metro serves about 210 000 passengers every weekday. The number of passengers has been on the increase since 1991.
      The City of Espoo is to decide in September whether or not the Metro should be extended westward to Espoo. The City of Helsinki has suggested that a metro line could be extended to the east, to Sipoo.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Metro axe-attack victim dies in hospital (27.4.2006)
  Man attacks metro passenger with an axe; victim in critical condition (22.4.2004)

Helsingin Sanomat