Estonia’s coach operator Lux Express gets its coach buses back to the road between St. Petersburg and Finland’s capital Helsinki after 562 days of suspension since March 2020 due to the outbreak of Covid-19.
Lux Express said in a press release it will start with one trip a day as of October 1, adding that it hopes the load rate will be at least 60 percent in the first few months after the restart. If demand is rather high, the frequency of routes will increase.
Departure from St. Petersburg’s Main Coach Station (36, Obvodniy Canal) is at 06:15 making it the earliest Helsinki-bound departure available.
Departure from Helsinki’s Kamppi Coach Station is at 16:15 (at 15:15 after Finland’s switch to the wintertime on October 31).
The route has three transit stops at Vaalimaa, Kotka-Karhula, and Vantaa (Helsinki airport).
The fare is 2650 rubles.
Tourist trips between Russia and Finland are still forbidden, only a few categories of travelers are eligible for crossing the border. Moreover, Finland has not admitted any of Russia’s vaccines, including Sputnik V. All those coming to Finland with Sputnik V are obliged to pass the test during formalities at the border.
But things seem to be changing as Finland’s sanitary body THL recommended the country’s government to let the vaccinated with Sputnik come to Finland without having to be tested. The reaction of the government to the recommendation has not been immediately known. Anyway, there are hopes Finland will drop many travel restrictions somewhen in October or later toward the end of 2021 as the country is making progress towards herd immunity.
Earlier this year, Lux Express has resumed routes between St. Petersburg and Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The company was happy to see good results in the number of rides despite the fact the border between Russia and Estonia is still closed for tourists. A factor that contributed to the high traffic on the Estonian route was the absence of other kinds of transportation. Railway and air services were suspended due to Covid.
But it looks another way if we talk about Finland. Railway transportation was suspended as well as a marine service provided by Moby SPL’s ferry, but coach and air travel are available. Lux Express’s main competitor on the route, St. Petersburg-based SovAvto, restarted its trips in July this year with four departures a week. Flights between Vantaa and St. Petersburg Pulkovo airport are accomplished by Finnair twice a day.
Photo credit: Lux Express