Public transport in Stockholm

A metro train at Gamla stan station
An icy commuter train
Djurgården ferry
A city bus at Sergels torg
A tram on Tvärbanan
Heritage tram on the Djurgården line
Modern tram on Spårväg City line 7 at Sergels torg

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),[1] 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.[2]

The airport rapid public transport systems are handled separately though, with Flygbussarna[3] providing airport bus services, and Arlanda Express[4] an airport train service.

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.[5] 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

LineRoute
1Frihamnen – Hötorget – Fridhemsplan – Stora Essingen
2Norrtull – Odenplan – Slussen – Sofia
3Södersjukhuset – Slussen – Fridhemsplan – Karolinska Hospital
4Gullmarsplan – Fridhemsplan – East Station – Radiohuset
6Ropsten – East Station – Odenplan – Karolinska Institute
172Norsborg – Huddinge – Högdalen – Skarpnäck
173Skärholmen – Älvsjö – Bandhagen – Skarpnäck
176Mörby station – Solna – Ekerö centre – Stenhamra
177Mörby station – Solna – Tappström – Skärvik
178Mörby station – Helenelund station – Kista – Jakobsberg station
179Sollentuna station – Kista – Spånga station – Vällingby
471Slussen – Nacka – Orminge centre – West Orminge
474Slussen – Gustavsberg centre – Ålstäket – Hemmesta
670East Station – Danderyds sjukhus – Vaxholm
676East Station – Danderyds sjukhus – Norrtälje
873Gullmarsplan – Tyresö centre – Nyfors
875Gullmarsplan – Tyresö centre – Tyresö church

Metro

The Stockholm Metro consists of three groups of lines, which are each referred to as a singular line.

Name Lines Stretch Length Stations
Blue line10, 11 Kungsträdgården – Hjulsta/Akalla25.5 km20
Red line13, 14 Norsborg/Fruängen – Ropsten/Mörby centrum41.2 km36
Green line17, 18, 19 Åkeshov/Alvik/Hässelby strand – Skarpnäck/Farsta strand/Hagsätra41.3 km49

The Stockholm metro has been called 'the world's longest art gallery',[6] 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.

Name Lines Stretch Length Stations
Saltsjöbanan25, 26 Slussen – Saltsjöbaden; Igelboda – Solsidan18.5 km18
Roslagsbanan27, 28, 29 Stockholm East Station – Näsbypark/Österskär/Kårsta65.0 km39
Commuter rail (Pendeltåg)40 Uppsala C – Arlanda C– Stockholm City – Södertälje centrum25
Commuter rail (Pendeltåg)41 Märsta – Stockholm City – Södertälje centrum24
Commuter rail (Pendeltåg)42 Märsta – Stockholm City – Nynäshamn21
Commuter rail (Pendeltåg)43 Bålsta – Stockholm City – Nynäshamn28
Commuter rail (Pendeltåg)44 Kallhäll – Stockholm City – Älvsjö21
Commuter rail (Pendeltåg)48 Södertälje centrum – Gnesta6

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.[7] The infrastructure is owned by SL, but the cars are owned and operated by the Swedish Tramway Society. All SL fares are valid.[8]

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.[9]

Name Line Stretch Length Stops
Spårväg City7 Sergels Torg – Waldemarsudde3.2 km12
Nockebybanan12 Nockeby – Alvik5.7 km10
Lidingöbanan21 Ropsten – Gåshaga Brygga9.2 km14
Tvärbanan22 Sickla Station – Solna Station18.2 km26

Boat

There are several Stockholm archipelago boat lines in Stockholm County, run by Waxholmsbolaget. Some of them operate year around.

There are (as of August 2018) four water bus (pendelbåt) lines in Stockholm, where SL fares apply.[10]

NameLineRoute
Sjövägen 80Frihamnen – Nybroplan
Djurgården ferry 82Slussen – Skeppsholmen – Allmänna gränd
Riddarfjärdslinjen 85Klara Mälarstrand – Riddarholmen[11] – Söder Mälarstrand – Kungsholmstorg
Ekerölinjen 89Tappström – Klara Mälarstrand

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,[12] 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,[13] 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.[14] In addition to the ticket price (see below), there is an additional fee of 120 SEK (as of February 2018) for using the railway station at the airport.[15]

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).[16]

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.[17]

SL's tickets

SL has two main forms of tickets. Both are used for all SL public transport within Stockholm County.[15]

  • 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.

SL Access RFID card used to hold tickets.

SL's ticket prices

As of February 2018, the prices for the most common tickets are as follows.[15] The reduced price is for persons under the age of 20, or over the age of 65.

Single-use ticket
Purchase method Full price Reduced price
SL credits ("reskassa")31 SEK21 SEK
App ticket, single-time ticket etc.44 SEK30 SEK
Purchased by conductor62 SEK41 SEK
 
Travel cards
Card name Full price Reduced price
24-hour card125 SEK85 SEK
72-hour card250 SEK165 SEK
7-day card325 SEK220 SEK
30-day card860 SEK570 SEK
90-day card2,500 SEK1,650 SEK
365-day card9,010 SEK6,040 SEK
 

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:

Rolling Stock

  1. SL Metro Train
  2. SL Commuter Train

See also

References

  1. ↑ Stockholm Transport - in English Archived 2007-02-07 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Waxholmsbolaget
  3. ↑ Flygbussarna Airport Coaches
  4. ↑ Arlanda Express
  5. ↑ "Blåbussarna". AB Storstockholms Lokaltrafik. Archived from the original on 2007-02-21. Retrieved 2007-04-21.
  6. ↑ Art Discussion website 'Twisted Sifter'
  7. ↑ "The Djurgården line no 7:". Swedish Tramway Society. Retrieved 2007-05-18.
  8. ↑ "The Djurgården line no 7N: Fares". Swedish Tramway Society. Retrieved 2011-07-21.
  9. ↑ "CAF wins Urbos tram contracts". Retrieved 2011-04-01.
  10. ↑ "Pendelbåtar" (in Swedish). Storstockholms Lokaltrafik. Retrieved 2018-08-12.
  11. ↑ "Pendelbåtslinje 85 får en ny hållplats" (in Swedish). Storstockholms Lokaltrafik. 21 December 2017. Archived from the original on 2018-01-07. Retrieved 2018-08-12.
  12. ↑ "Prices". Arlanda Express. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-05-18.
  13. ↑ "Fares". Flygbussarna Airport Coaches. Archived from the original on 2007-03-22. Retrieved 2007-05-18.
  14. ↑ "Trains". Stockholm Arlanda Airport. Swedavia. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  15. 1 2 3 "Prislista 2018" (in Swedish). Storstockholms Lokaltrafik. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  16. ↑ Axås, Elisabet (20 April 2014). "Ta dig till flygplatsen – utan att bli skinnad". Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  17. ↑ "A fare price?". The Economist. September 24, 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-24. In Stockholm it costs $4.88 for a single journey of 10km on public transport, the highest cost in a study of 73 cities by UBS, a Swiss bank.
  18. ↑ "AB Stockholms Spårvägar". AB Stockholms Spårvägar.
  19. ↑ "Arriva". Arriva Sverige AB. Archived from the original on 2015-01-17.
  20. ↑ "Busslink". AB Storstockholms Lokaltrafik. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  21. ↑ Templeton, Dan (December 12, 2016). "MTR takes over Stockholm Pendeltåg operations". International Railway Journal. Retrieved 2017-05-28.
  22. ↑ "MTR". AB Storstockholms Lokaltrafik. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  23. ↑ "Nobina". AB Storstockholms Lokaltrafik. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008. Retrieved 2010-01-25.
  24. ↑ "Om Djurgårdsfärjan" [About Djurgårdsfärjan] (in Swedish). Djurgårdens Färjetrafik. Archived from the original on 23 September 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
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