Street cleaning timetables and SMS service

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Helsinki, Finland

About the city. Helsinki City Board decided in 2012 to assume total responsibility for street maintenance by 2020 – all responsibilities for street cleaning and winter maintenance that belong to properties according to the Maintenance Act.

Goal

Street cleaning processes smoothly and faster when car owners remove their cars. Besides, with careful cleaning, the result lasts longer, and the streets remain in proper condition for longer as well. The grit removed from roads and streets is used in construction.

Implementation period. The project has been implemented since March 2017.

Fact

The total length of ways to sweep and wash is approximately 2,500 kilometres. Spring street maintenance begins as soon as the weather allows.

Solutions

Street cleaning is announced with road signs posted on streets, on the special website (app) and with SMS messages. The online service announcing street maintenance plans is used by all car owners to find out when they should remove their cars to another place.

No parking road signs. If a person has parked a car on the street after a no-parking sign has been posted, they are charged for car removal. Signs are portable, not permanent.

Street maintenance plans online. The online map of the city shows where the cleaning will be carried out shortly. The map is updated every day. Moreover, special marks on certain streets appear a week before the expected cleaning, so that car owners can take care of it as early as possible.

Text message service. The service can be activated additionally. The information can be received the day before at 16:00 by text message. Moreover, messages received by the service are free.

SiirtoSoitto.com. Helsinki residents can also monitor the cleaning timetable via the mobile app. The app can be downloaded to iPhone and Android phones from the AppStore and GooglePlay Store. When logging into the service, the user can specify the areas for which reminders they want to receive.

In addition, the maintenance of sidewalks and streets is the responsibility of properties. They have to remove sand from sidewalks and wash sidewalks with water.