West Metro causes decline in bus use

The number of passengers using the recently inaugurated West Metro is in line with the expectations, Helsinki City Transport (HKL) team leader Marko Vihervuori told the local media.

The start of the West Metro has also been reflected in the decreased use of bus services in the capital city region, reports the MTV news.

“The number of bus service users in Espoo and Kirkkonummi has decreased by 28 per cent, while in Lauttasaari it has declined by 39 per cent,” said Vihervuori.

In Espoo, for instance, the Pohjolan Liikenne bus service which operates the route from Kirkkonummi agrees with the HKL findings.

“We are of the view that 10-15 per cent of the passengers who used to travel to Kamppi have moved to Matinkylä metro,” said Pohjolan Liikenne CEO Heikki Alanko.

According to HKL, about 50,000 travelers use the new metro stations every weekday.

Sixty thousand passengers used the metro in the first week after the opening, said Vihervuori, adding that, for some of the passengers, the reason could be witnessing a new thing.

Since the opening of the West Metro, Matinkylä has been the busiest metro station with about 15,000 passengers using it every weekday. The Koivusaari metro station which welcomes about 1,000 passengers every weekday has been the least busy.

A total of 290,000 passengers use the new metro service every weekday.