Rail link to Lahti robbed coach services of over 100,000 annual passengers

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The coach services operating between the southern cities of Helsinki and Lahti suffered a loss of over a hundred thousand annual passengers between September 2006 and August 2007, after the new direct rail connection between Kerava and Lahti was introduced in the autumn of 2006. The findings are listed in a recent master’s degree dissertation.
      In the first year after the opening of the new rail link the express coach services between Helsinki and Lahti lost 32-37 percent of their passengers, depending on the direction of travel. For Mäntsälä connections the figures vary from the regular services’ 18 percent to 33 per cent for express coaches.
      On Tuesday, driver Jorma Leppäkynnäs was getting ready to join the evening rush hour traffic with his express coach from Helsinki towards Lahti. According to his observations, the opening of the new railway connection has had an effect on the passenger figures. Leppäkynnäs also suspects, however, that Helsinki’s worsening traffic congestion situation also has to do with the loss of passengers.
      Previously a larger coach was in use on his route, and still almost every time a stand-by vehicle was also needed.
     
Now only seven women climb into Leppäkynnäs’s coach at the departure station, while perhaps twenty more individuals will be picked up along the way. One of the passengers is Jaana Kauppi from Lahti, who uses the coach a couple of times a month on a series ticket from her employer. The coach service suits her, as from the Helsinki bus terminal she can conveniently continue to Otaniemi in Espoo.
      Another passenger, Hilde Inkinen, says she uses the coach three to four times a month, when she comes to Helsinki to see her grandchildren. She opts for the coach as it stops conveniently along the way.
     
According to the master’s degree dissertation, the interviewed express coach customers said the locations of the stops and the suitable route were the deciding factors when opting for a coach. For many, the convenient location of the Lahti terminal was the reason for choosing a coach rather than taking the train.
      Previous studies, in turn, reveal that many passengers opt for the train because of the price and the speed. Before the new track the train and coach travel times between Helsinki and Lahti were more or less the same. Now, thanks to the new line, a train ride from Lahti to the capital - which used to take up to an hour and a half - may be made is as little as 48 minutes.
     
The Finnish rail company VR opened the new link with a reduced price offer, and the government will buy out the entire unprofitable local traffic operation. Last year, there was EUR 3.6 million of budget money available, and according to VR around 700,000 journeys were made on the endorsed Z-trains.
      In other words, the government sponsored each journey made on the new track with the sum of 5.10 euros. For the coach services between Helsinki and Lahti the state does not spare a cent, and the Finnish Bus and Coach Association considers the competition arrangement unfair – especially if the government’s sponsoring of the train traffic continues.
      For the coach companies a hundred thousand lost customers translate to over a million euros of lost income.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  More passengers than expected using new Helsinki-Lahti rail line (4.10.2006)
  New Kerava-Lahti railway shortens travel times to Eastern Finland by up to one hour (30.11.2005)

Links:
  VR - Finnish Railways

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