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The government ministry responsible for transport in the Ministry Of Transport And Communications . ROADS Road transport in Finland is the most popular method of transportation, particularly in rural areas where the railway network does not extend to. There are around 78 000 km of public roads, most of which are paved. The main road network comprises over 13 000 km of road, mostly in the south of the country and along the west coast. 63% of all traffic on public roads takes place on main roads, which are divided into class I (''valtatie'') and class II (''kantatie'') main roads. Motorway s have been constructed in the country since the 1970s , but they are still reasonably rare, as the country's motorway network is still very much under construction. There are 653 km of motorways, and only one route has been finished as a full-length motorway. Speed limits change depending on the time of the year; the maximum speed limit on motorways is 120 km/h (75 mph) in the summer and 100 km/h (62 mph) in the winter. The main roads usually have speed limits of either 100 km/h or 80 km/h (50 mph). Speed limits in urban areas range between 30 km/h (19 mph) and 60 km/h (37 mph). Finland, like most other European countries, has Right-hand Traffic . There are no Toll Road s in Finland. As Of 2004 , there are 2 727 160 Car s in Finland, giving a total of 521 cars per a thousand inhabitants. Thus, the average citizen is less likely to own a car in Finland than in other European countries. This is despite the fact that Finland has one of the highest average GDPs in Europe, and probably results to the high quality of public transport in the country. Coaches and buses Coach es are mainly operated by private companies and provide services widely across the country. There is a large network of ExpressBus services with connections to all major cities and the most important rural areas. Coach stations are operated by Matkahuolto . Local bus services inside cities and towns are often tightly regulated by the councils. Many councils also have their own bus operators, such as Helsinki City Transport , which operate some bus lines on a commercial basis in competition with privately owned providers. Regional bus lines are generally less strictly regulated, leading to Cartel situations like TLO in the Turku region, but strong regional regulating bodies like the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (YTV) exist as well. RAILWAYS The Finnish Railway network consists of a total of 5,865 km of railways. Passenger trains are operated by the state-owned VR Group . They serve all the major cities and many rural areas, though railway connections are available to fewer places than bus connections. Most passenger train services originate or terminate at Helsinki Central Railway Station , and a large proportion of the passenger rail network radiates out of Helsinki. High-speed Pendolino services are operated from Helsinki to other major cities, mainly to Tampere and Turku . Modern InterCity services complement the Pendolino network, and the cheaper and older long and short distance trains operate in areas with less passengers. The Helsinki metropolitan area has three , Helsinki Metro , and the VR Lähiliikenne commuter rail system. Light Rail systems are currently being planned for Turku and Tampere , two of the country's other major urban centres. AIR TRANSPORT There are 148 airports, 76 of which have paved runways. By far the largest airport is Helsinki-Vantaa Airport , and the second largest is Oulunsalo airport that serves the city of Oulu . Other international airports include Turku Airport and Tampere-Pirkkala Airport . The larger airports are managed by the state-owned Finavia agency (formerly the Finnish Civil Aviation Administration), while the smaller ones are usually managed by municipal authorities. |
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