Vantaa to Town (Bus#615)

Prologue

One can take the bus, train, or a taxi to town.  I ended up with the bus.

Bus

Research (Googling) said there were shared-taxi services to town, and that the number 615 bus would take me to near Hilton.  After getting some cash, and a SIM card, I approached the Airport Taxi Yellow Line counter.  There was another shared-taxi counter next to it but the attendent wasn't there.  The cost to town was €29.9, I think, but just under €30.  The next car was in 30 minutes.  I asked the gentleman where I could get the bus to town and he said it's just outside.

There seemed to be many bus stops.  I wandered a bit and found the sign for the stop which included the #615.  There was an automated ticketing machine.  Chose English as the language and purchased a ticket to town for €5.5 with my credit card.

Bus Ticket

There were a few people there and I asked a gentleman if he was in the queue.  He told me there wasn't really a queue for this or that bus. When the bus arrives, people just get on.   After a minute or two, the #615 rolled up and we all piled on in an orderly fashion.  One can buy a ticket onboard from the driver with cash and quite a few people did that.

Thanks to my working cellphone with a working data SIM card, I kept checking Google Map.  My destination was Hakaniemi subway stop.  Feeling that I was close to where I was supposed to get off, I told the driver that I was looking to get off at Hakaniemi and would he please let me when I was supposed to get off.  He patiently pointed out that my stop was the second one from then.  I thanked him and got off a few meters from the McDonald's Hakaniemi.  The hotel was about 250 meters from there.  The bus departed the airport at 15:15 and I got off at 16:00. 

One can also take the train from the airport to the Central Railway Station for the same  €5.5.   For me, I would then have to catch the tram, or subway back to Hakaniemi, the nearest tram/subway stop to Hilton.

Epilogue

There were signs at the exit of the aiport building pointing to ground transportation.  But one needed to know where to find the stop for Bus 615.

Bibliography

https://cfanreviews.blogspot.jp/2016/11/data-helsinki_13.html
https://www.finavia.fi/en/helsinki-airport/services/parking-and-traffic/airport-taxi-yellow-line/
https://debconf5.debconf.org/about/from_the_airport_to_the_center.html
https://goo.gl/maps/mxLXD37gLDm
https://www.hsl.fi/en/timetables-and-routes/terminals/transport-links-helsinki-airport
https://www.hsl.fi/en/tickets-and-fares