Project on developing knowledge base for publicly supported transport services launched

The Ministry of Transport and Communications has launched a project to draft legislation for an experiment concerning the development of a knowledge base for publicly supported passenger transport.

The Programme of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s Government includes the target to develop publicly supported transport services in such a way that the resources allocated to service provision produce the greatest possible added value. The project that has now been launched will promote this target. 

Every year the public sector uses about one billion euros for supporting mobility. The need for transport services and the costs related to these keep growing. New means will have to be found to ensure these services in future. First of all, this requires a more comprehensive knowledge base on publicly supported transport operations, i.e. a better understanding of their demand and supply.

A more comprehensive knowledge base can be used to further develop publicly supported transport operations and to calculate the savings potential of different kinds of development models on the basis of concrete data. The knowledge base will also enable to estimate the potential for combining transport operations and the possibilities for better utilisation of demand-responsive and public transport services. 

Regional experiment to build the knowledge base

A fixed-term experiment limited to certain regions would be implemented to build the knowledge base. Data on the demand, supply and realisation of publicly supported passenger transport operations would be submitted to the digital information service of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom and Traffic Management Company Fintraffic. The data could be linked to other data collected by Traficom and Fintraffic, such as data on traffic flows and conditions and on routes and timetables. Based on this, a comprehensive overview of the situation can be built.

The experiment would concern transport operations under the Disability Services Act and Social Welfare Act in the wellbeing services counties of North Ostrobothnia, Lapland, Kainuu and Central Ostrobothnia, and transport operations in these under the Health Insurance Act, i.e. services reimbursed by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland Kela.

The experiment will not change the ways the transport operations are organised or financed or the responsibilities related to them. The project has no impact on the daily lives of the customers using the transport services during the trial period. 

A regional experiment was considered the fastest way forward to make sure that the experiment can be implemented during the present government term. A limited experiment will provide the necessary knowledge base to support future decision-making on the need for further development of transport operations and the savings that can be achieved. 

Submitting data on transport operations requires legislative amendments. The provisions related to the experiment would be included in the Act on Transport Services. Where necessary, changes would also be made to other legislation.

The project will be implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the wellbeing services counties involved, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland Kela, Traficom and Fintraffic.

Next steps

The preparation of the project will continue as part official duties. The government proposal is due to be submitted to Parliament during the autumn session 2024.

The experiment on submitting transport data to Traficom and Fintraffic will be implemented in 2026–2027.

Inquiries

Elina Immonen, Senior Ministerial Adviser, elina.immonen(at)gov.fi, tel. +358 295 342 159