Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council

The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council ("Pääkaupunkiseudun yhteistyövaltuuskunta", or "YTV", in Finnish, "Huvudstadsregionens samarbetsdelegation" in Swedish) is a co-operation agency operating in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The organisation has a few responsibilities, most notably regional public transport and waste management. It is subordinated to the city councils of the four participating cities (Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen). Furthermore, transport cooperation also includes neighboring municipalities of Kerava and Kirkkonummi.

Economy

The Metropolitan Council used €155.6 millions in 2002 and its income was €160.3 millions. Traffic and waste management make up 97% of its expenditure. About 70% of the income consist of customer fees for public transports and waste management.

Transportation Management

The Metropolitan Council groups together different Public Transportation companies operating in the Metropolitan area, such as HKL, operator of the metro, Suomenlinna ferry service and bus services within the Helsinki region, and publishes a timetable of all public transport quarterly, and provides the journey planner service on the Internet. There is are specialised versions of this timetable available in the four cities of the region. It also runs ticketing and prices, fixing prices at the same level for all public transportation, irrespective of method or transportation company. Most tickets are bought using the electronic travelcards, a service run by Buscom. These travelcards support two types of payment for trips:

If the same travelcard is loaded with both value and period, period takes priority when applicable to the current zone. If the period runs out, or the passenger travels to a zone where the period is not applicable, value is used instead.

The travelcards can be bought through certain shops and Public Transport Information Centres.

The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council currently manages the following zones:
* Helsinki
* Espoo and Kauniainen
* Vantaa
* Regional traffic 1: Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa
* Regional traffic 2: Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa, Kerava and Kirkkonummi (excluding Helsinki)
* Entire region: Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa, Kerava and Kirkkonummi

Mission

The mission of the Metropolitan Council is to improve the capital area's development by high quality public transports, waste management and air protection. In addition a "development planning unit" has the purpose to increase cooperation between the four town-administrations involved, particularly regarding planning of land use.

External links

* [http://www.ytv.fi/eng Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council]
* [http://aikataulut.ytv.fi/reittiopas/en/ Journey Planner] (in English)