Government proposes experimental legislation to collect data on publicly supported passenger transport

A proposal on temporary amendments to the Act on Transport Services was submitted to Parliament by the Government. The aim is to centralise data on publicly supported passenger transport services in one and the same place.

The temporary and regionally limited experimental act now proposed would be in force for three years. The act will neither change the way publicly supported transport services are organised, nor will it affect the use of such services by the customers concerned.

During the experiment, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom would collect data on transport services to be provided by the wellbeing services counties of Central Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia, Lapland and Kainuu under the Social Welfare Act, Disability Services Act and Health Care Act. Traficom would also obtain data on transport services reimbursed under the Health Insurance Act (known as ‘Kela journeys’) in the areas of operation of the same wellbeing services counties. The data to be compiled by Traficom is designed to relate to the demand, supply and delivery of transport services.

Publicly supported transport services are organised by a number of different actors and the related data is therefore fragmented. The proposed experimental act would allow centralising data on the transport services provided for the healthcare and social welfare services, thus giving a better overall view of the organisation of such transport services. With the help of a new knowledge base, more detailed plans for improvement can be drawn up and assessed in order to secure transport services into the future.

Although the proposal would make it possible to collect data on predetermined transport services only, and on an experimental and regional basis, the results of this experiment would also be useful at the national level.

Focus on securing future services

The total cost of passenger transport services supported by public funds exceeds EUR 1.2 billion each year, the share of the healthcare and social services being about 25 per cent. The constantly rising transport costs, coupled with the current state of the general government finances, put pressure on the organisers to develop service delivery.

The data to be collected during the experiment will allow for a more extensive assessment of the functionality and improvement potential of transport services. The data can be used among other things to estimate the potential for combining transport services and making better use of demand-responsive services and public transportation. It is essential to develop publicly supported transport services so that they could be secured into the future, especially in sparsely populated areas.

Next steps

Parliament will hold a referral debate on the government proposal in a plenary session at a date to be specified on Parliament’s website (under “upcoming plenary sessions”).

After the referral debate, a parliamentary committee will discuss the proposal and draft its report. Parliament will then debate the matter again in a plenary session.

The fixed-term experimental act in question is scheduled to enter into force on 1 July 2025, and the transport data to be collected will cover the years 2026 and 2027.

An interim report on the results of the experiment will be drawn up in 2027, and a final report will be published in 2028.

Inquiries:

Atte Riihelä, Senior Specialist, atte.riihela(at)gov.fi, tel. +358 295 342181

Elina Immonen, Director of Unit, elina.immonen(at)gov.fi, tel. +358 295 342159

Jenni Rantio, Senior Ministerial Adviser, jenni.rantio(at)gov.fi tel. +358 295 342205