Helsinki cycling

Helsinki's wants to become the world's best metropolis of sustainable transportation - we need to make the bicycle an easy, convenient, attractive, and equal part of the city's transport equation

About Helsinki

City of Helsinki logo

The City of Helsinki, located in northern Europe, is often ranked amongst the most liveable cities. The city has been working on cycling promotion since the 2000s and has published a plan for cycling in 2014. This plan outlines 25 steps to help Helsinki achieve its goal of becoming one of the best cycling cities in the world. Helsinki prioritises sustainable transport, which is highlighted by the city's modal split (walking 36%, cycling 11%, public transport 33%). The city's traffic and street planning sector has over 100 employees, four of which work full-time on cycling at a holistic level. 

Main cycling challenges

Helsinki needs to be able to build its infrastructure faster and more efficiently. Despite many good advancements that have been made thus far with regards to cycling facilities, the cycling situation is still in an unfinished state.  For example, the different types of cycling infrastructure are not intuitive and not the most natural paths for a cyclist to follow. In addition, the prevailing prioritisation of car traffic in Helsinki requires a cultural shift, which has, to date, been slow.

Statistics

Population icon
643,272 Population
Amount of cyclists icon
10k/day Amount of cyclists
(on busiest route)
Car ownership rate icon
411 Car ownership rate
(cars per 1000 residents)
City area<
719 km² City area
Length of cycle network icon
1300 km Length of cycle network
Helsinki

Timeline

Cycling solutions

Helsinki's strong focus is on making improvements to its cycling infrastructure, from the planning stages to the very design, implementation, and operation of the infrastructure.

Mentor: Copenhagen

Helsinki

Contact

Henna Hovi

Kansakoulukatu 3
P.O. Box 58214
FI-00099 City of Helsinki
Finland

henna.hovi [at] hel.fi

+358 40 141 8118 / +358 44 215 6091

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Helsinki online media

This project has received funding from the European Union‘s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement no 769177.

The sole responsibility for the content of this website lies with the CIVITAS Handshake project and in no way reflects the views of the European Commission.