Trendiest mobility mode in Helsinki? One’s own feet

The local authorities conducted a survey, and it turned out that to be outdoorsy, you don’t even need to leave the city

Soft mobility, micro-mobility, e-mobility…well, how about the oldest type of mobility mode there is? Getting from point A to point B using nothing but your own legs, aka walking. It turns out that this was, in fact, the most preferred option for Helsinki residents in the year 2022.

According to a transport study and survey conducted by the administration of the Finnish capital, local residents completed 47% of all trips done in the city on foot! And the closer to the downtown area they lived the more popular that type of “transportation” was.

What about the other mobility options?

During 2022, there were slightly more (1.81 million) trips made than the previous year. On average, each Helsinki resident made three journeys per day, which was in line with 2021 figures.

After pedestrian travel came cars (15%), buses (11%) and then bicycles (9%), according to the survey, cited by Yle news agency.

The share of people using buses to get around last year was roughly the same as in 2021, but still clearly below pre-pandemic levels. On the other hand, the share of public transport use was greater than the use of private cars.

The survey also looked into the reasons people take trips outside of their homes. The most popular reason was leisure (40%), which would explain the massive popularity of walking. That of course fits well with the popular image of Scandinavian people being active and outdoorsy.

Work or school trips were the reason behind a quarter of all trips taken outside of one’s household. Apparently, the share of these is only one per cent higher compared to the previous year, meaning that even after the passing of the Covid pandemic remote working has become entrenched into the modern lifestyle.

The research material was collected through telephone interviews in September and October 2022, and the sample represents Helsinki residents aged 7-79.