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I live in Helsinki and have tried this service a couple of times. Every time I have had the whole van for myself, except once there was a journalist doing a sto

by jks 13y ago

I live in Helsinki and have tried this service a couple of times. Every time I have had the whole van for myself, except once there was a journalist doing a story on the fancy new service. It's not really fair to compare the price to a single bus ride: if you live in Helsinki and don't own a car, you already have a monthly ticket and the incremental cost of getting on a bus is zero. This is in effect a cheap taxi that's a little less convenient. What I think they're really doing is getting around Finland's taxi permit system (there's a limited number of taxi permits so there is no real competition) by building a taxi-like service that can only pick you up and drop you off at bus stops, which apparently avoids getting the vans classified as taxis.

coob 13y ago
On the subject of supply constrained taxi permits, here's an interesting NPR story on NYC's taxi medallions: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/11/29/142866785/the-tuesday-podcast-why-does-a-taxi-medallion-cost-1-million http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/11/29/142866785/the-tues...
jerguismi 13y ago
Nah, the service is not private but public transport project, and it isn't viable business. The trips are covered by the tax money paid by you (and me). There is no way a taxi trip could cost $5 using that kind of vehicle. You also have to factor in the operational costs and note that the cars are Mercedez Benz vans with wifi etc.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- jks 13y ago
  Well, yeah, it's the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority getting around another branch of government (it's the ELY-keskus that gives out taxi permits, part of the state instead of the city). I agree that there is no way this can be a profitable business now, but if they can get a sufficient user base it could become one.
  - tuukkah 13y ago
    The Kutsuplus van operators are required to have either a taxi permit or a public transport permit, which is also granted by ELY but much easier to get: http://www.ely-keskus.fi/en/web/ely-en/trafik http://www.ely-keskus.fi/en/web/ely-en/trafik Ajelo Oy has projected that the service would be sustainable at 100 vans and profitable at 1000 vans.

by jks 13y ago

coob 13y ago

On the subject of supply constrained taxi permits, here's an interesting NPR story on NYC's taxi medallions: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/11/29/142866785/the-tuesday-podcast-why-does-a-taxi-medallion-cost-1-million http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/11/29/142866785/the-tues...

jerguismi 13y ago

Nah, the service is not private but public transport project, and it isn't viable business. The trips are covered by the tax money paid by you (and me). There is no way a taxi trip could cost $5 using that kind of vehicle. You also have to factor in the operational costs and note that the cars are Mercedez Benz vans with wifi etc.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
jks 13y ago
Well, yeah, it's the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority getting around another branch of government (it's the ELY-keskus that gives out taxi permits, part of the state instead of the city). I agree that there is no way this can be a profitable business now, but if they can get a sufficient user base it could become one.
- tuukkah 13y ago
  The Kutsuplus van operators are required to have either a taxi permit or a public transport permit, which is also granted by ELY but much easier to get: http://www.ely-keskus.fi/en/web/ely-en/trafik http://www.ely-keskus.fi/en/web/ely-en/trafik Ajelo Oy has projected that the service would be sustainable at 100 vans and profitable at 1000 vans.