I want to become a bus or coach operator

If you have not set up a business yet, the business start-up wizard available on the Suomi.fi service is a great tool for setting one up. The service can be used by anyone to find out what you need to do and know when setting up a business. Based on the responses you give, the service will provide you with a checklist of matters that you need to consider.

A passenger transport licence is required for commercial transport of passengers by road using a vehicle referred to in the Vehicles Act as a bus or coach. The passenger transport licence is issued as a community transport licence, which entitles you to operate national transport in mainland Finland and to operate international transport in the EU Economic Area and Switzerland.

However, no passenger transport licence is required to provide passenger transport services internally for a corporate group, a similar undertaking or a public corporation or to transport passengers as part of a municipality's or other public corporation's social and health care services, provided that certain conditions are met.

Before applying for a licence, it is recommended to register the applying business or undertaking in the Trade Register and the necessary Tax Administration registers.

The licence conditions include professional competence, Business ID, legal capacity, good repute, being based in Finland and being able to demonstrate your financial standing and the appropriate fulfilment of obligations.

Traficom does not assess in advance whether the conditions are met, nor does it issue preliminary decisions. The fulfilment of the conditions is only assessed during the processing of the licence application.

The applicant or the applicant’s transport manager must be professionally competent. Professional competence is achieved by completing the bus and coach transport operator examination. Read more: Road transport operator examination  (in Finnish)

The holder of a transport licence must at all times be able to meet their financial obligations in the course of the annual accounting year. To this end, the applicant must demonstrate that they have sufficient financial resources for the operations that they intend to engage in based on the licence, i.e. the applicant must demonstrate their financial standing. The applicant must demonstrate that they have at their disposal financial resources totalling at least EUR 9,000 when only one vehicle is used and EUR 5,000 for each additional vehicle used.

Financial standing must be demonstrated taking into account all of the applicant’s transport licences, excluding taxi transport licences. In other words, the applicant must demonstrate that they have sufficient financial resources for all the goods and passenger transport licences that they currently posses or are applying for. The guarantee amount of EUR 9,000 for the first vehicle applies only once, not separately for both types of licences.

Financial standing can be demonstrated with a certificate of the applicant’s financial resources issued by an authorised, meaning KHT, HT or JHT, auditor and/or a surety obligation (bank guarantee) issued by a credit, financing or insurance institution or a bank deposit (pledge account).

For more detailed instructions and templates, please see the links below

The licence is granted on the basis of an application. The licence can be granted either to a natural person who operates as a private trader (sole trader) or a legal person, such as a limited company or limited partnership.

If the applicant is a legal person, they must have a transport manager. The transport manager must meet the licence conditions of good repute and professional competence and have a connection to the applying company.

The application for a new licence, renewing an existing licence or additional licences must include a report on the applicant’s financial standing as an attachment. As regards the other licence conditions, the applicant must provide supplements or other evidence upon request. The application should be filled as thoroughly as possible, as requests for supplementary information will delay the granting of the licence.

Applications will be processed in the order of arrival within approximately two weeks of the commencement of proceedings.

Apply for a passenger transport licence (External link)

Only the party marked as the licence holder on the licence document can engage in transport operations based on the licence. If the licence holder is a natural person, only the person in question may engage in transport operations based on the licence, and they do so as a private trader (sole trader). If the licence holder is a community, only the community in question, such as a limited company or limited partnership, may engage in transport operations based on the licence.

Transport licences cannot be transferred or forwarded to another party. For example, a licence granted to a natural person cannot be transferred to a company owned by the person; instead, the company must apply for a transport licence of their own.

The applicant is granted a passenger transport licence and at least one copy of the passenger transport licence. The vehicle-specific copy of the passenger transport licence must be carried inside the vehicle whenever the vehicle is used for transport operations. The original licence must be stored at the licence holder’s place of business. The passenger transport licence is granted for 10 years.

Vehicle-specific copies always expire at the same time with the original licence.

A passenger transport licence also authorises the holder to transport goods using a bus or coach.

You can update your telephone number and email address via My e-Services (My e-Services/Front page/My details). You can log in with your online banking credentials, mobile certificate or certificate card.

You do not need to report a change of name or address to Traficom. Name or address changes for natural persons are reported to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency and name or address changes for legal persons are reported to the Finnish Trade Register.