page_title: Public transport in Helsinki
section_title: Regular bus lines
hierarchical_section_title: Public transport in Helsinki / Bus services / Regular bus lines
caption_attribution_description: English: Helsingin Bussiliikenne Lahti Scala (with Scania chassis) bus (#615) on former line 93 at Itäkeskus showing the new colors of the company.
context_page_description: Public transport in Helsinki consists of bus, tram, metro, local railway and ferry services. The system is managed by Helsinki Region Transport and covers Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa and the outlying Kerava, Kirkkonummi and Sipoo.
  Helsinki is currently the only city in Finland to have a tram system. The city of Turku dismantled its tram system in 1972, and Finland lost the city of Vyborg to the USSR in World War II and the city subsequently withdrew its trams in 1957. In 2017, construction started on a tram line in the city of Tampere.
  50% of commuting trips within the city limits of Helsinki are made using public transport and only 28% using a private car, while 48% of the households have access to a car. The ridership is typical to a European city, but if Helsinki were in U.S., it would have the second highest ridership after New York. Due to a large area and low population density, the spread of population looks more like an American city, not a European one. Partly due to lack of trams or rapid transit outside the Helsinki Region, the ridership in other cities in Finland is significantly lower.
context_section_description: Internal bus routes of Helsinki can be found almost anywhere in Helsinki. For some parts of the city, even high-density, these buses provide the backbone of the public transportation system.
  The routes are drawn and the timetables set by HSL, but operated by independent companies. HSL tenders a route or a set of routes and the company offering to operate the route for the best quality-price ratio will get the contract. The quality is measured with a pointing system which gives points for such aspects as the quietness, environmental efficiency and the size of the buses that would be used. The biggest bus operators are Nobina Finland, Veolia Transport Finland and Helsingin Bussiliikenne (HelB). These companies run a majority of the contract services. One rapidly expanding company is the VR (state rail) owned Pohjolan Liikenne, which has recently been very successful with the tendering. Mostly the expansion has been at the cost of HelB.
  Many of the buses operating in eastern Helsinki act as feeder lines for the Helsinki Metro. Nearly all other routes have the other end of their lines in the downtown near the Helsinki Central railway station. Such exceptions are present as dedicated lines operating directly from a suburb to another past the centre (for example Helsinki buses 51–54, 56–59).
  The line numbers for the internal lines contain two digits and for some a letter.
  Most lines are operated between 5:30 and 23:30, the most popular between 5:00 and 1:30. In daytime outside of rush hours the basic interval for buses is mostly either 10, 15, 20, 30 or 60 minutes depending on the length and the demand of the line. Nighttime lines which operate only from 23:30 to 1:30 (and sometimes early morning) are signified by letter N. Recently the tradition of having designated night routes has been broken and replaced with N-variants of daytime routes.
  Other letters include:
  A: lengthened or clockwise-circular route
  B: shortened or anti-clockwise-circular route
  K: exception in route, often insignificant
  T: trams to terminal (4T, 6T), 100-series buses via Lauttasaari
  V: faster or more direct route
  Z: faster or more direct route (usually along highway)
  Helsinki bus terminals include Kamppi (surface area), Rautatientori, Elielinaukio and Hakaniemi. Larger metro stations have their own feeder bus terminals.
caption: A Helsingin Bussiliikenne bus on line 93 at Itäkeskus
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