Bike sharing in Finland
Finland is a fascinating country and a true European model in many respects: educational, financial or climatic. Transportation is no exception. Indeed, Finland stands out for its innovative approach to micromobility. The country is banking on a sustainable multimodal transport system. That's why the Finnish authorities have put in place policies to encourage the use of modern light vehicles, such as scooters and electric bikes, by combining them effectively with mobility services such as public transport.
During the autumn of 2024, Qucit had the opportunity to talk to several Finnish communities to understand their sustainable mobility policies, their initiatives around cycling, as well as the challenges they may face on their way to a greener future. In this article, we invite you to discover what they have to say: Bike-sharing in Finland.
Finland, a country focused on soft mobility
Is Finland a forerunner in terms of shared micro-mobility in Europe? To answer this question, Qucit studied the country's political, socio-environmental and economic context.
Just as many European and international countries are committed to meeting environmental targets, Finland is no exception. Indeed, the country has put in place several strategies to reduce its carbon footprint, notably in the transport sector.
In 2011, the country had already published a national strategy for walking and cycling, aimed at promoting active mobility as a means of daily transport. The government accompanied this strategy with a national action plan for walking and cycling up to 2020.
Building on this policy, in May 2021 the government adopted a decision in principle to halve greenhouse gas emissions from domestic transport by 2030. This target has been set in relation to 2005 levels, which then stood at 80 million tonnes of CO2 emitted. The plan, known as the “roadmap to fossil fuel-free transport”, is being rolled out in three phases, and aims to achieve emissions-neutral transport (0%) by 2045.
This policy guideline is perfectly in tune with the social and environmental challenges of our time. It also aims to reduce dependence on the car, improve the quality of urban life and facilitate economic access to mobility for the Finnish population, which has not escaped the global economic inflation of recent years. By 2023, Finland had reached an inflation rate of 6.25%.
As a result, some municipalities have developed high-quality cycling infrastructure and awareness-raising programs to encourage citizens to use bicycles as an alternative to the car. As Jere Sipponen - Project Manager for the City of Turku points out, “in terms of environmental policy, the country aims to achieve 63% of journeys made by public transport by 2030.” In addition, to reduce CO2 emissions, a number of local initiatives in the form of bike-sharing systems were set up to facilitate access to bicycles for the general public. Qucit visited the communities of Turku, Helsinki, Tampere and Lahti to share their innovative initiatives in active mobility.
Interviews with several Finnish local authorities on e-scooter sharing
Following our discussions with local authorities in Helsinki, Turku, Tampere and Lahti, we couldn't help but notice a common thread running through all these Finnish cities: shared micro-mobility!
Aware of the challenges of climate change, and the need to improve the quality of life in the city, the usual modes of shared transport need to be diversified. That's why, in addition to buses, trains and possibly streetcars, these local authorities have all made shared scooter and bicycle services available to their residents. These systems operate seasonally, generally from April to October, and close and are maintained during the winter period.
As Miikka Kulpakko - in charge of electric scooter mobility for the capital Helsinki - observes, “electric scooters, being supplied and managed by private operators such as Tier, Lime or Dott, are very popular with residents. This type of vehicle is appreciated for its speed, its ease of use (effortless for the user) and flexibility thanks to its “free floating” technology, giving users greater freedom to borrow or return a vehicle after a journey.” What's more, self-service scooter systems stay open a little longer, from March to November, and often feature a larger fleet than bicycles: 3,000 e-scooters in Lahti, 6,000 e-scooters in Tampere and 10,000 e-scooters in Helsinki. In Helsinki, for example, 3.5 million trips were recorded for electric scooters in 2023, compared with 2 million for city bikes.
But, dear reader, make no mistake! Each system has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, since e-scooter sharing are private systems, their price is respectively higher than that of the bike share. What's more, since they depend on the private market and are perceived as unsafe, prone to accidents during use, cities tend to prefer bike sharing and impose regulations to restrict e-scooter sharing. Jere Sipponen - Project Manager for the City of Turku told us that “in the past, for example, many scooters have had to be fished out of the Aura (the river running through Turku), whereas no shared bikes have had this problem.”
Therefore, as Jukka Uusitalo - Bicycle Traffic Planner for the City of Tampere tells us “although e-scooter share are more popular than bike share, the government would like to pass legislation, to modify the current policy of commercial freedom, to better control e-scooter share systems, perceived as dangerous to the population. The aim of this legislation would be to impose a speed limit for e-scooter share, which is still non-existent in some cities, or to prevent certain users from riding two on the same scooter.”
But what about bikes?
Interview with several Finnish local authorities on bike sharing
As introduced earlier, these four local authorities - Helsinki, Tampere, Lahti and Turku - all have bike-sharing systems. Their size varies according to the number of inhabitants and the area covered by the system. In Helsinki, a policy for a regional bike-sharing system is currently under construction to encourage the use of bicycles as an alternative to the car. In fact, when Helsinki's current city bike service started up in 2016, the network included 50 bike stations and 500 city bikes. Since then, the service has been gradually extended to cover almost the entire Helsinki region. Heiska Ilari - head of Helsinki's capital city shared bike service explained that “Helsinki's upcoming shared bike system will enable users to cross communal borders with unified city bikes between Helsinki and several other surrounding communes: Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniaisten kaupunki (City of Beauties), Kerava, Sipoo Commune and Siunti Commune.”
The bike-sharing systems in Turku (700 mechanical bicycles and 70 stations), Tampere (700 mechanical bicycles and 113 stations) and Lahti (500 e-bikes and 60 stations) are smaller, but are not losing out in terms of usage. The perception of bike-sharing systems is very positive in Finland, as the example of Lahti perfectly illustrates, observing a constant growth in the number of users. Juhana Polojärvi - Bicycle Traffic Engineer for the City of Lahti tells us about the success story of his city, which, “after doubling its fleet compared to 2022 (250 e-bikes and 31 stations), the total number of journeys made by bike thus rose from 110,000 journeys that year, to 290,000 journeys in 2023, then to 330,000 journeys in 2024!”
So what makes cycling so attractive?
First of all, Finnish towns and cities are generally equipped with high-quality infrastructure, with cycle paths separated from roads, although still shared with pedestrians. Secondly, the systems are affordable. In Turku, for example, the system, entirely financed by the city, enables residents with a public transport season ticket to have free access to shared bikes. Some cities, including Turku, are also beginning to diversify their vehicle fleets by offering “test programs” to integrate cargo bikes into their bike-sharing systems, thanks to funding for these projects from the European Union. So, after launching a first test program with 3 cargo bikes in 2023, the city of Turku has now been able to launch a second test program in 2024 with 7 cargo bikes.
In Finland, several companies offer their permanent employees a discount on the purchase of a bicycle to encourage active mobility in daily commuting. Finally, cycling associations such as the Finnish Cyclists' Federation promote cycling as a mode of transport, and organize events such as cycling week in May to bring together and animate a community around cycling.
All these initiatives in favor of shared mobility are making cities greener. Turku has a 10% modal share of cycling, Helsinki 12% and Tampere 9%.
In conclusion, Finland continues to make progress towards more sustainable and inclusive mobility, fully integrating micromobility into its urban landscape. Although challenges remain, notably in terms of adapting infrastructure to harsh climatic conditions and the need for appropriate regulations to ensure the safety of all users. It's up to each and every one of us - including you, dear reader, wherever you are, on our own scale - to take part in this integration of active mobility into our customs, in order to build a greener world for tomorrow.
To be continued in the next episode, which will take us on a journey to sunny Italy, to understand shared mobility in southern Europe!