Five years ago, history was made in Finland when it united its traffic control on land, at sea, and in the air under Fintraffic

At the beginning of 2019, Finland made history when it became the only country in the world to unite its traffic control on land, at sea, and in the air under a single operator: Fintraffic. The company’s employees celebrated its five-year journey on Friday, 19 January 2024. 

Five years ago, Finland gained an exceptional advantage in the development of traffic and transport, as the traffic control for all modes of transport was united under the same roof. Fintraffic has provided us with a unique opportunity for examining traffic services as a whole and promoting a level of development that will allow us to achieve the safest, smoothest, and most environmentally friendly traffic in the world. We want to make Finland a model country for intelligent traffic and logistics while creating new job opportunities, services, and competitiveness.

Fintraffic’s objectives are the responsibility of its competent professionals who work around the clock to secure traffic on land, at sea, and in the air for the benefit of the entirety of Finland. Indeed, it’s safe to say that without the services provided by Fintraffic, Finland would grind to a halt. 

But what have we achieved in five years? Here are some examples:

• We have improved road safety and reduced traffic disruptions. This is the result of various developments, such as our determined efforts to develop our traffic control services and make more comprehensive use of traffic-related data and situational pictures.
• Our production process for traffic control services has improved significantly, allowing us to provide more for the same amount of money spent.
• We have accelerated the development of services related to traffic control and data. We have also enhanced the ways in which we share the competence gained in different modes of transport.
• We have adopted new solutions in our traffic control services to improve the safety, smoothness, and environmental friendliness of Finnish traffic. One example of this is the new traffic information displays on Ring Road III, which inform drivers of road deviations or congestion. This service also makes use of the data collected by the Waze service. 
• So far, we've managed to recruit over 200 organisations to the Traffic Data Ecosystem, the aim of which is to create new operating models for the traffic sector, improve operational efficiency by sharing and utilising data, save costs by sharing development resources, and reduce traffic emissions.
• Finland has reached record levels in the use of traffic data, and its prevalence is more extensive than ever before. 
• And all of this has been the handiwork of Fintraffic’s dedicated personnel, whose work satisfaction continues to increase year-on-year. In fact, over 80% of our employees feel that their work is truly meaningful.

Did you know that 

• we value safety above all else? Our efforts help prevent traffic hazards on land, at sea, and in the air. Visit this link to see some of Fintraffic’s key figures.
• we improve the efficiency of travel and transport chains? Our traffic control services promote smooth traffic operations, and we make use of digitalisation to reduce waiting times in travel and traffic when moving from one mode of transport to the next. As an example, Finland’s air space is one of the most efficient in Europe when it comes to air traffic.
• we work tirelessly to reduce the carbon footprint of traffic? The more optimised Finnish traffic is, the less emissions it generates.
• we share huge amounts of open data for the benefit of various services run by different actors? For example, the route planners provided by public transport operators make extensive use of Fintraffic’s data; your car navigator relies on the traffic status and condition data we provide; and the traffic bulletins you hear on the radio come from our traffic control centres.

You can take a closer look at the situational traffic pictures we produce for yout travel-related needs through e.g. the following services: 

Fintraffic Mobiili is available for free from the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store:
 iOSAndroid (For more information, visit fintraffic.fi/fi/mobiili, available in Finnish) 

You can plan your own route in advance from the safety of your home in the Traffic Situation service. You can view your route in advance in the convenient map screen, in which you can select dozens of different options from road weather information, traffic volumes and road maintenance. In addition to road traffic information, the service provides information on train traffic and the flight arrival and departure times at airports.   

Fintraffic’s Train Departures is a timetable service that provides train departure and arrival times for all passenger stations in Finland. The information is based on real-time rail traffic data, and the timetables are constantly updated. You can search either by station/city or train name.   

The National Journey Planner contains information on all public transport timetables and routes. Just enter your starting point and destination, and the service will determine the services and departures that will get to your destination. The route planner includes both local and long-distance timetables and services. It includes buses, tramways, subways, trains, ferries and flights. You can even plan your route all the way through Estonia.   

With the Feedback Channel service, you can give feedback on roads, the railway network and waterways. You can also track feedback from your area.