Jyrkilä ends 80 years of bus operations after losing city contract

Kotka-based family bus company Jyrkilä is ending its operations after 80 years, Yle reports. The company lost a competitive tender for Kotka’s service transport, and the end of its contract with the city became the final factor in the decision.

Jyrkilä had seven buses operating in Kotka’s service transport as recently as spring. By summer, the number had fallen to four. The city selected a Helsinki-based taxi company in the tender instead.

“When the operating contract with the city did not continue, it felt right to end the rest of the operations as well,” managing director Antti Jyrkilä said.

The company’s charter services had also declined. Jyrkilä said two major customer groups, pensioners and workplaces, had reduced their trips.

The decision to close had been developing for several years in the mind of Antti Jyrkilä, who runs the company in its third generation.

Jyrkilä was founded by Väinö Jyrkilä in 1946. Its strongest period was in the 1980s and 1990s, when it operated almost 40 buses and organised charter trips in Finland and abroad.

The company’s operations shrank significantly after it sold its urban transport business to Pohjolan Liikenne in 2007. Jyrkilä’s remaining buses have been sold and will continue operating under other companies.

Bus companies disappearing

Jyrkilä’s closure is part of a broader change in the bus industry. Mika Mäkilä, managing director of the Bus and Coach Association, said the number of member companies had halved over the past decade to around 100.

At the same time, the number of buses has increased. Around 4,000 buses set out on the road in Finland each morning.

“The structure of the companies is clearly changing. The large companies are becoming larger, while medium-sized companies are either growing or becoming targets for corporate acquisitions,” Mäkilä said.

Higher costs and weaker rural services

Mäkilä said public transport funding had become tighter while European Union regulation had increased. Emissions requirements, for example, had been a significant factor in the changes.

“The initial investment in electric buses is considerably higher than in traditional bus operations,” he said.

The change is particularly visible in large cities, where Mäkilä said fleets were better than ever. At the same time, the gap between large cities and rural areas is growing.

In rural areas, the reduction in services is especially visible.

“One service after another is being discontinued. This is a quiet decline,” Mäkilä said.

A restored Onni Vilkas bus, which Jyrkilä rescued from a landfill, will remain in Kotka’s Aittakorpi district as a memorial to the city’s bus services.