TUAS supports the circular route towards Kupittaa
Implementing the new circular route, planned for the Turku region public transport between the student village, Kupittaa and Itäharju, is vital for both students and working life. Students and the representatives of Turku University of Applied Sciences support the route plan.
In a reader survey conducted by the local newspaper Turun Sanomat (TS 15 August), Kupittaa railway station was the most popular place for a stop of the circular route.
“The circular route is an excellent and worthy project. It would make it easier for students to go from the student village to the campus area of the higher education institutions with the help of public transport. Travelling from Kupittaa railway station towards the metropolitan area would also become easier. At the same time, the Student Village Foundation of Turku is about to increase complementary building in the area between the student village and Kupittaa. Thus, even more traffic and services will be concentrated in Kupittaa", says Niko Aaltonen, Chairman of the Board of TUAS.
“It's great that the City of Turku is planning to improve the functionality of public transport. The planned line will support moving to the cluster of studies and work at Kupittaa. Implementing the circular route together with the one-hour train project will in the future make it easier for students to move to the Kupittaa region also from afar and, on the other hand, outside the city to their practical training places”, says Tuomas Kiviranta, Chairman of the Board of Student Union TUO.
TUAS will take the new building of the Kupittaa campus into use in 2018–19. Along with it, about 4 000 students and 350 staff members will move to the area from the Ruiskatu and Sepänkatu campuses. This is going to significantly increase the use of public transport in the area.
The route towards Kupittaa is also supported by the location of the railway station, hospital buildings and hobby opportunities in the region. Thus, the route would serve several user groups.
The reform of the public transport in Turku should take place in 2020.
Kupittaa among the city’s spearhead projects
Developing the Kupittaa area is one of the spearhead projects of the City of Turku. The city has outlined e.g. the following:
“The development of the Campus and Science Park area in Kupittaa has a significant impact on the development of the public transport system. Kupittaa railway station is a transport hub which combines local, regional and national public transport. The station is located within the most important workplace area in the science and research field next to the university, the expanding hospital and the developing campus and science park. As an entity, the area of Kupittaa and Itäharju is the most important growth region of centre-oriented workplaces within the city area and the western direction to which the pedestrian city will expand. In the concisely built Kupittaa area public transport, walking and cycling are important ways of moving around.”
“Thanks to the circular route, the Kupittaa campus of Turku University of Applied Sciences will be at the core of development even better. Our location at the centre of good traffic connections creates new opportunities for both our students and partners", says Rector and President Vesa Taatila.