The Metropolitan Council grouped together different Public Transportation companies operating in the Metropolitan area, such as
HKL, operator of the metro,
Suomenlinna ferry service and bus services within the
Helsinki region, and published a timetable of all public transport quarterly, and provided a
public transport route planner service on the Internet. It also ran ticketing and prices, fixing prices at the same level for all public transportation, irrespective of method or transportation company. These services are now (since January 1, 2010) provided by
Helsingin seudun liikenne. Most tickets were bought using the electronic travel cards, a
smart card service run by
Buscom. These travel cards supported two types of payment for trips: If the same travel card was loaded with both value and period, period took priority when applicable to the current zone. If the period ran out, or the passenger travelled to a zone where the period was not applicable, value was used instead. The travel cards were bought through certain shops and Public Transport Information Centres. The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council managed the following zones before 2010: • Helsinki • Espoo and Kauniainen • Vantaa • Regional traffic 1: Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa • Regional traffic 2: Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa, Kerava and Kirkkonummi (excluding Helsinki) • Entire region: Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa, Kerava and Kirkkonummi ==External links==