Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council
The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (Finnish: Pääkaupunkiseudun yhteistyövaltuuskunta, YTV, Swedish: Huvudstadsregionens samarbetsdelegation, SAD) was a co-operation agency operating in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, now replaced by HSL and HSY. The organisation had a few responsibilities, most notably regional public transport and waste management. It was subordinated to the city councils of the four participating cities (Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen). Furthermore, transport cooperation also included neighboring municipalities of Kerava and Kirkkonummi.
Economy
The Metropolitan Council used €155.6 million in 2002 and its income was €160.3 million. Traffic and waste management make up 97% of its expenditure. About 70% of the income consisted of customer fees for public transport and waste management.
Transportation management
The Metropolitan Council grouped 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 published a timetable of all public transport quarterly, and provided a public transport route planner service on the Internet. It also ran ticketing and prices, fixing prices at the same level for all public transportation, irrespective of method or transportation company. These services are now (since January 1, 2010) provided by Helsingin seudun liikenne.
Most tickets are bought using the electronic travel cards, a smart card service run by Buscom. These travel cards support two types of payment for trips:
| English | Finnish | Swedish | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Value | arvo | värde | A specific amount of money can be spent, within an unlimited time period. There are no inherent zone restrictions as each zone can charge for its trips individually. |
| Period | aika | period | An unlimited number of trips can be made, within a specific limited time period. The time periods are specific to each zone separately. |
If the same travel card 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 travel cards 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 was 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.