Public transport in Stockholm consists of bus, metro, regional/suburban rail, light rail, tram and archipelago boat operation in Stockholm County, Sweden. The bus and rail is organized by Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (Stockholm Transport, literally: Greater Stockholm Public Transport), SL, which is owned by the Stockholm County Council. The operation and maintenance of the public transport systems are delegated by SL to several contractors. The boat traffic is handled by Waxholmsbolaget.
The airport rapid public transport systems are handled separately though, with Flygbussarna providing airport bus services, and Arlanda Express an airport train service.
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Transport systems
Bus
There is a vast number of bus lines in Stockholm County. There are three different kinds of bus lines that differ from regular bus lines.
- Inner-city blue bus lines
- Suburban blue bus lines
- Service bus lines
The blue bus are in the inner city variant trunk lines traversing large parts of the Stockholm inner city, and in the suburban variant acting as important feeder lines between the suburbs and public transport hubs in central Stockholm, or providing crossway connections between suburbs. These are called blue bus lines because the buses that operate on them are painted blue, in contrast to the red color of the regular buses. The service bus lines are especially adapted for elderly people, and are found in certain residential areas. Along some parts of these lines instead of regular bus stops there are areas where one can halt the bus just by waving at them.
Blue bus lines
Metro
The Stockholm Metro consists of three groups of lines, which are each referred to as a singular line.
The Stockholm metro has been called 'the world's longest art gallery', with most of the network's 100 stations decorated with sculptures, mosaics, paintings, installations, engravings and reliefs.
Suburban rail
There are three suburban rail systems, with eight lines. Roslagsbanan uses an 891 mm narrow gauge, the others use standard gauge.
Regional and intercity rail
There are regional and InterCity trains going on the mainlines between Stockholm and cities outside the county. These cities include Uppsala, Gävle, Eskilstuna, Linköping, Västerås. These train are run by SJ on their own, and SJ tickets or special combination tickets called TiM (SJ+SL) are valid. The trains are run for a profit by SJ, without tax support.
Light rail and tram
There is one heritage tram line operational, Djurgården line. The infrastructure is owned by SL, but the cars are owned and operated by the Swedish Tramway Society. All SL fares are valid.
There are three regular light rail lines and one inner city tram line in Stockholm and only two of them, Nockebybanan and the new Tvärbanan are connected and share depot and rolling stock. The LRV primarily used on these lines are a localized version of Bombardier's Flexity Swift; Urbos trams have also been ordered.
Boat
There are several Stockholm archipelago boat lines in Stockholm County, run by Waxholmsbolaget. Some of them operate year around.
One boat line, the Djurgården ferry, operates in central Stockholm, between Slussen-Skeppsholmen-Djurgården. The SL tickets and travelcards are valid on that one, but not on any other Waxholmsbolaget routes.
Airport transport
The rapid public transport to and from the airports in Stockholm are handled a bit separately than the regular land based public transport as handled by SL, thus they have their own tickets and pricing structure. It is also possible to take regular public transport to and from the airports, but that typically means one has to change between some buses or trains and the trip takes more time.
Arlanda Express
Arlanda Express provides an airport rail link service to and from the Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.
The typical ticket price between Stockholm and Arlanda Airport for an adult is 240 SEK, and the trip takes 20 minutes.
Flygbussarna
Flygbussarna provides an airport bus service to and from all four airports associated with Stockholm: Stockholm-Arlanda Airport, Stockholm-Bromma Airport, Stockholm-Skavsta Airport, and Stockholm-Västerås Airport.
The ticket price between Stockholm central bus terminal (T-Centralen) and Arlanda Airport for an adult is 139 SEK, and the trip takes 40-50 minutes.
Local transportation
Arlanda is since 2012 served by the commuter train (Pendeltåg) to Stockholm and Uppsala. The trip takes 38 minutes to Stockholm Central Station and 18 minutes to Uppsala. In addition to the ticket price (see below), there is an additional fee of 120 SEK (as of May 2017) for using the railway station at the airport.
There are also local bus connections to and from the airport. Bus line 583 connects the airport with Märsta station, from which there is a commuter rail service to the city centre. The bus trip takes 16 minutes, and the trip from Stockholm Central Station takes approximately an hour. Normal SL fares apply (see below).
Tickets
By one measure--single ticket price for a 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) journey--Stockholm has the most expensive-to-use public transport in the world, as of March 2009.
SL's tickets
SL has two main forms of tickets. Both are used for all SL public transport within Stockholm County.
- Travel card -- valid during a specified period of time, from 24 hours up to a year, depending on the card.
- Single-use ticket -- valid for 75 minutes from activation, within Stockholm County. Single-use tickets are mainly purchased with credits loaded onto an SL Access card.
In either case, the ticket is loaded onto an SL Access RFID card that is scanned at the start of each journey.
Regardless of the ticket used, journeys by the Stockholm Commuter Rail Pendeltåg to Arlanda Airport, or crossing the county border to Uppsala and Knivsta, incur additional costs. As mentioned above, the additional cost for using the railway station at Arlanda airport is 120 SEK (can be paid upon arrival) (as of February 2017). Travelling to Uppsala or Knivsta with SL from Stockholm County requires a valid Uppsala County (UL) ticket in addition to the usual SL ticket.
- Note: Applies to SL Stockholm Commuter Rail (Pendeltåg) train only. Other operators have their own tickets including Arlanda Express. (Note also that SL Stockholm Commuter Rail (Pendeltåg) as well as National and Regional trains stop at Arlanda Central Station (Arlanda C) while Arlanda Express stops at Arlanda South (first stop): Terminal 2, 3 and 4 and Arlanda North (second and last stop): Terminal 5.)
SL's ticket prices
The prices for the most common tickets are as follows. The reduced price is for persons under the age of 20, or over the age of 65.
In addition, there are tickets available for school students under 20 years old, as well as tickets valid both for SL and UL.
Waxholmsbolaget's tickets
With the Waxholmsbolaget archipelago boats the ticket structure is essentially
- Cash ticket paid on board, price dependent on trip length
- 30-day period cards
On the Djurgården ferry line (Djurgårdsfärjan) between Slussen and Djurgården, only the SL travel cards are valid.
Arlanda Express tickets
The Arlanda Express train between Stockholm central station and Arlanda airport has its own relatively expensive tickets. The normal price is 280 SEK one way. Tickets can be bought in vending machines near the platform, or electronic tickets on the internet. They can be bought on board the train for a 100 kr surcharge. There are discounts for children, students and retired people. There are multi-journey tickets, and a one-year tickets for unlimited travel.
Contractors
SL does not themselves directly operate any traffic, instead all the traffic is handled by contractors. The contractors used by SL are as of May 2015 the following:
- Stockholms Spårvägar
- Spårväg City (7), Lidingöbanan.
- Arriva
- Bus traffic in Ekerö, Sigtuna, Upplands Väsby and Vallentuna.
- Saltsjöbanan, Roslagsbanan, Nockebybanan, Tvärbanan.
- Keolis
- Bus traffic in Stockholm City Centre, Norrtälje, Täby, Österåker, Vaxholm, Danderyd, Lidingö, Haninge, Nynäshamn, Solna/Sundbyberg, Sollentuna and Årsta/Älvsjö.
- MTR
- Stockholm commuter rail.
- Stockholm Metro.
- Nobina
- Bus traffic in Södertälje, Bromma, Tyresö, Nacka/Värmdö, Huddinge/Botkyrka and Järfälla/Upplands Bro.
- Djurgårdens Färjetrafik (a joint venture of Serco and Strömma Turism & Sjöfart operated in association with Waxholmsbolaget)
- Djurgårdens ferry
Rolling Stock
- SL Metro Train
- SL Commuter Train
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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