Browsing by Author "Kyllönen, Essi"

Urban population is growing and cities must enable its dwellers to travel across the city and guarantee the capacity of transportation network. Simultaneously they must ensure that they promote sustainable development and achieve various environmental goals. To manage these conflicting pressures cities must invest in public transport and other sustainable transport modes, as the volume of car traffic should not increase at the same rate as the amount of urban population. The urban structure and the travel demand of the actors of a region affect the structure of the public transport system. In polycentric urban regions a hub and spoke –based public transport network enables a cost-effective public transport service that connects the centers of the region, covers the area and serves the diversifying travel demand. The aim of this thesis was to study what are the arguments Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HRT) uses for planning and developing a hub and spoke –based public transport system in the region. This was done by studying various HRT’s documents with qualitative content analysis. The arguments used by HRT were reflected with the background and benefits of a hub and spoke –based public transport system presented in scientific literature. In addition, it was analyzed whether the public transport system chosen appears to be suitable and relevant for the Helsinki region acknowledging the scientific background of the system and the urban structure of the region. The urban structure of Helsinki region has been developing towards polycentricity especially within the boundaries of the three major municipalities of the Capital Region, and from its establishment HRT has aimed at developing a hub and spoke –based public transport system in which the trunk network has a significant role. In the system the public transport’s trunk network connects the sub-centers to each other and to the urban core of the region on routes where the travel demand is highest, and feeder lines and local service lines supplement the service of the trunk network. In 2017 an effective trunk route network was highlighted as one of HRT’s strategic goals. However, various public transport network plans aiming at developing the trunk network have recently been criticized both by the inhabitants and the regional policy-makers, because amongst other things, the development of the trunk network often means that formerly straight lines to Helsinki city center will include a transfer. According to the results, HRT argues for the planning and implementation of a hub and spoke –based public transport system by stating, that developing the system enables the development and improvements of the connections between the centers of the region and the densification of urban structure and land use. Also, it improves the accessibility of the region and the fluency of travelling with public transport and makes the public transport system more cost-effective and environmentally friendly. Taken into account the polycentric development of the urban structure of the Helsinki region, the hub and spoke –based system appears to be a suitable and a cost-effective public transport solution that increases the fluency of travelling with public transport. However, the connections between the sub-centers are not yet very important for the daily travel demand of the actors of the region, as a significant proportion of the travel is still headed towards the to the Helsinki city center, i.e. the urban core of the region. This accounts at least for some of the critique and opposition to the development of the trunk network and hub and spoke –based system. Based on the results, it can be confirmed, that the development of the hub and spoke –based public transport system and the trunk network in the Helsinki region must be well integrated with urban development and changes in land use and in the travel demand of the actors of the region. However, a hub and spoke –based network that connects transportation hubs makes it possible to meet the increasingly versatile and individualized travel demand and to offer connections between countless destinations across the region. No single public transport network structure is self-explanatorily superior to others when it comes to the attractiveness, cost-effectiveness or the environmental benefits of the system. It is most essential to plan the network and the whole public transport system so, that the urban structure of the region and the travel demand of the actors of the region are carefully taken into account.