It has been a week now and I’m back with more insides about Stockholm. This time I would like to tell you about the transportation system in Stockholm. The name of the company running all the land-based public transportation systems in Stockholm County is Storstockholms Lokaltrafik, better known as SL. They run the subway system (tunnelbana, practice your Swedish!), the bus system (bussar), the commuter train system (pendeltåg), and the tram and light rail systems (Roslagsbanan, Saltsjöbanan, Tvärbanan, Nockebybanan, Djurgårdsbanan and Lidingöbanan).

Let’s start by talking a little bit about each system and their routes and characteristics. I would like to start with the subway system, better known as “Tunnelbana”, which in my opinion is, together with the buses, the most important transportation systems in Stockholm.

Stockholm’s subway system consists of three lines: green, red, and blue (although a fourth yellow line is under construction right now) which can take you all around Stockholm with T-Centralen as the starting point, where all the lines are interconnected.

Let’s start with the green line to Hässelby Strand, Hagsätra (T19), Farsta Strand (T18) and Skarpnäck (T17). The Hässelby Strand end of the line covers all the west, and the other three ends cover thee different areas to the south. The green line is interconnected with the blue line at Fridhemsplan and with the red line both at Gamla Stan and Slussen.

Next is the red line, which is divided into 4 paths, two of them going north and the other two going south- west. To the north we have Mörby Centrum (T14) and Ropsten (T13) while to the south we have Norsborg (T13) and Fruängen (T14). Two key stations are Östermalmstorg and Liljeholmen where the red line splits towards different ends.

Finally, we have the blue line, which goes from Kungsträdgården (next to T-Centralen) to Akalla (T11) and Hjulsta (T10). In my experience, I would suggest not to pay attention to the line number (T11 for example) because it could be a bit confusing. Just locate the station you want to go to, then the last station towards that route and look for the train with that direction. Here is the current subway map of Stockholm.

(http://hallbartnaringsliv.se/nyheter/infrastruktur/tunnelbanesatsning-i-stockholm/)

Let’s continue with the buses now, which as I said before, it is as important as the subway and both are the heart of Stockholm’s transportation systems.

There is not much to say besides that there is a bus stop near pretty much every place in Stockholm. Every subway station has a bus terminal to cover the areas nearby (and sometimes not that close to) the subway station area. However, there are three main bus hubs at the stations Fridhemsplan, Slussen, Danderyd Sjukhus and Gullmarsplan

There are also big bus hubs in stations like Märsta, from where one can reach the Arlanda airport or other towns like Sigtuna.

The commuter train system (Pendeltåg) is represented by a J symbol and is basically covers a broader area than the subway system. It connects Stockholm with its suburbs and neighbor cities like Bålsta, Uppsala, Södertälje, and Nynäshamn among others.

Commuter train station signal (J)

Finally, we have the light rail and the tram systems, which serve as connection to different areas to which the subway or the commuter train does not have a close by station.

All these maps can be found and downloaded from the SL website (http://sl.se/en/getting-around/). The SL main website can be found both in English (https://sl.se/en/) and Swedish (https://sl.se/).

It is important to mention that, in addition to all those systems I mentioned before, there is also a ferry system (Pendelbåt). These boats can be used to commute between the islands, but they are a perfect channel to go for a nice sightseeing on a sunny morning.

There is an official SL app, which is the perfect companion to travel around Stockholm. There you can buy tickets or find the best connection or way to go from one point to another. However, there is another app called STHLM Traveling – SL Planner which is, in my opinion, way better to navigate and to use when moving around Stockholm. There you can find subway, buses, commuter train, trams, light rail, and boats and you can search for a specific arrival or departure time and date.

Unless you are going to stay in Stockholm less than 48 hours or you are not going to move much around, I strongly suggest buying an SL-card. The card is very practical to use and one can just “refill” or charge the type of ticket one needs.

That brings us to the second important topic of this blog: tickets and fares. SL provides a wide range of options when buying tickets for transportation. From all-included 24-hour, 72-hour, 1-week, 3-months, or even a year-ticket until “Reskassa”, which is basically putting money into your card and spending it on each fare you activate the card. All the different prices are available to check both on the SL website or on your nearest SL Center. You can charge your SL card online, on any SL Center or in convenience stores such as Pressbyrån and 7eleven (both are found in almost on every corner in Stockholm). You can also buy your ticket from the counter on each subway station.

Remember that children under 20 years old, students, and Swedish pensioner over 65 years old with a valid id-card from Försäkringskassan have the right to buy tickets at a discounted price. In the case of a student, it essential that that you have a valid student id with the corresponding SL logotype on the card, which you will need to show when having ticket control on the subway or trains.

There is another option for you to move around Stockholm though, bike. From April to October, you can use the City Bikes service to travel around the city. City Bikes offers the opportunity to rent a bike from several places like Central Station, Djurgården, Medborgaplatsen or next to Karolinska Institutet in Solna.

It is very easy to do, you just have to go to the City Bikes station, unlock a bike using your bike card, then take the bike away. When you reach your destination, go to the nearest City Bikes station to return it (just park it there and leave).

City Bikes is a cheap and healthy alternative for busses or cars. You can buy a season card in Pressbyrån, for cost 300 Swedish crowns or on the website http://citybikes.se/home for 250 Swedish crowns for the whole season. What is practical about City Bikes is that you can rent from one place and leave it in another one, but you must always remember that you cannot use one bicycle for more than three hours in a row.

I think that covers pretty much all the information you need to find your way around Stockholm. I hope I have given you enough information for you to move around Stockholm easily and with plenty of choices.

See you next time! Kaja