Finland introduces multi-city transit fare card

JOENSUU, Finland — Finland is the latest country to introduce a transit pass that can be used throughout many of its cities, according to CityLab.

After a single-city trial in Joensuu that started in January, the Waltti travel card was rolled out across six additional Finnish towns on August 3rd and another in the fall, the report said.

None of the eight cities included in the groundbreaking scheme so far is especially big by global standards. Helsinki has said it will not as yet be signing up to the scheme due to compatibility issues with the city’s ticket barriers, CityLab reported.

Even before reaching its full extent, the single payment card pieces together an urban transit zone that contains more than 700,000 people, a substantial number in a country of less than 5.5 million inhabitants, according to the report.

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About the Waltti Travel Card

• The Waltti travel card can be loaded at service points, on line, on board and at a growing number of ticket sales points all over the country.

• The new Waltti travel card facilitates daily travel. Using the service and paying fares is made easy.

• Passengers can choose either a personal card or a multi-user card, according to preference. A personal card allows travel only by the card holder. Anybody can use a multi-user card and it is suited for joint use e.g. by families and companies.

• Personal data is stored on the personal card upon purchase. Personification of the travel card makes it possible to transfer value or a season ticket to a new card if the card has been lost. Business ID can also be stored on a multi-user travel card.

• A fee is charged when the Waltti travel card is issued. The public transport authority in each region determines the fee.

• The cities are able to order the Waltti travel card also according to their own visual identity.