Take a ride with the Mayor! City leaders offer residents lifts in Vaasa

The city leaders offering rides include Mayor Tomas Häyry, Director of Education and Culture Salme Sulander, Director of the Urban Environment Sector Markku Järvelä, Principal for Vaasa City Institutes Sannasirkku Autio, Director of Culture and Library Services Sanna Bondas, Director of Sports Mika Lehtonen, Director of Public Utility Services Jukka Talvi, Building Inspector Juha Jääskeläinen, Finance and Strategy Director Sonja Känsäkangas, Director of Communications and Marketing Leena Forsén, Director of Welfare Virve Flinkkilä, and HR Director Tuulikki Kruhse-Poutanen.

– We wish to offer the people of Vaasa a fun and unique way to meet city leaders and exchange ideas face to face. At the same time, our passengers will have the chance to explore electric driving and get to know the Mini-Lifti cars, says Mayor Tomas Häyry.

Rides depart from outside Vaasa City Hall and take approximately 15–20 minutes. Each ride can accommodate 1 to 3 people from the same group, and is reserved for one group at a time. To join the ride, residents must reserve a place in advance. Sign up and book your ride here (webropolsurveys.com).

The popular campaign makes a comeback

The City of Vaasa is offering electric leadership rides for the second year running. Last autumn, the campaign attracted considerable interest and received a great deal of positive feedback. Residents felt that the rides gave them an important opportunity to have their say on issues affecting the city.

– What I remember most from last year is how positive all the conversations were. We received a great deal of positive feedback about Vaasa’s beautiful urban environment, but also suggestions on how we could do even better, recalls Markku Järvelä, Director of the Urban Environment Sector, who took part in the campaign as a driver.

Salme Sulander, who started as Director of Education and Culture this year, is taking part in the campaign for the first time. She is looking forward to meeting residents and hearing their thoughts.

– It’s great to be able to meet residents in a setting like this. It benefits both sides: we get to hear what people think, and residents have the chance to tell us about the issues that matter most to them, says Sulander.

Electric mobility in the Energy Capital

Mini-Lifti cars are shared fully electric vehicles available to everyone in Vaasa. On weekdays, city employees use them for work-related travel, but in the evenings and at weekends, anyone can rent them.

Vaasa is known for its expertise in the energy sector and for its internationally significant energy cluster. The energy transition is also becoming part of everyday life for residents through new mobility solutions. Shared electric cars make electric driving accessible to everyone in Vaasa and have become a familiar part of the cityscape.

– Here in the Nordic Energy Capital, electric mobility comes naturally to us. Energy is also created through human connection, and both help move Vaasa forward, says Mayor Häyry.

The City of Vaasa aims to be carbon neutral by the end of the 2020s. Transport is already a major source of emissions, and efforts to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions include increasing the use of shared mobility services and electric vehicles. The European Commission has awarded Vaasa the 2026 European Green Leaf title in recognition of the city’s determined efforts to protect the environment and tackle climate change.