Buying a Seutu+ season ticket with school transport subsidy (Kela)

During the summer, new and continuing students traditionally apply to Kela for school travel subsidy for the 2024-2025 school year.

! Kela grants school travel subsidy for the purchase of a Seutu+ season ticket with a so-called right to buy. The subsidy will be taken into account in the purchase situation (via the mobile application/ Seutu+ website service page/ Service Point). When shopping independently, always remember to choose a subsidised ticket and if you shop at a service point, please clearly ask for a subsidised ticket. Kela does not pay the school transport subsidy for the Seutu+ season ticket to the student’s account.

Here are instructions on how to choose a Seutu+ ticket and how to apply for Kela’s school transport subsidy:

1. Which Seutu+ line do you use to get to school?

Seutu+ is transport outside the bigger cities (Föli/ Turku region public transport, Paikku/ Salo public transport, Gyyt/ Rauma public transport, PJL/ Pori public transport) and transport from smaller municipalities to bigger cities.

Make sure which Seutu+ line you use for your school trip. You can check the route in the route guide on seutuplus.fi.

Once you know the Seutu+ line, check which season ticket for the eligible area is suitable for your journey. Season ticket options and eligibility zones can be found under the tab Tickets and fares/ School travel ticket/ Eligibility zones and connection intervals. If you need to travel with citytraffic (Föli, Paikku, Gyyt, PJL) to and from your school, choose a season ticket that also covers city traffic.

2. Apply for Kela’s school travel allowance electronically in OmaKela:

– Get suitable authentication (online banking credentials or mobile certificate).
– Log in to OmaKela and fill in the online application for school transport subsidy
– If you only need to travel on the Seutu+ line – in the application you must select public transport as the mode of transport and Waltti as the ticket vendor.
– If you need to travel on the Seutu+ line and the city-region (Föli, Paikku, Gyyt, PJL) onward and return journeys – in the application you must select public transport as the mode of transport and Waltti as the ticket vendor for both parts of the journey.
– Send your application.
– See OmaKela for information on your ‘right to buy’

Once you have the right to buy, you can purchase a Seutu+ season ticket. Note! You should only purchase a ticket once your studies and travel have starts, as the Seutu+ season ticket is valid from the moment of purchase. Once you have purchased a ticket with school transport support, it cannot be cancelled.

3. Other comments

If you use other than Seutu+ lines for your school journeys, make sure you know which options are used to apply for Kela in this situation. The Seutu+ season ticket is not valid for example for long-distance busses.

For more information:

– Applying for school travel subsidy -> kela.fi/ school-transport-subsidy
– Seutu+ transport and buying a school transport subsidy ticket -> seutuplus.fi