The Savonlinja Group is the most important bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

-service provider in Eastern Finland

Eastern Finland

Eastern Finland was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2010. It bordered the provinces of Oulu, Western Finland and Southern Finland. It also bordered Russia.- History :...

, and is building an ever-stronger presence in public transport

Public transport

Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...

 in Southern Finland

Southern Finland

Southern Finland was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2010. It bordered the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Finland and Russia.- History :...

.

In 1924 Toivo J. Honkanen, Senior Advisor for Finance and the founder of the Savonlinja Group, started a passenger service between Lappeenranta

Lappeenranta

Lappeenranta is a city and municipality that resides on the shore of the lake Saimaa in South-Eastern Finland, about from the Russian border. It belongs to the region of South Karelia. With approximately inhabitants Lappeenranta is the largest city in Finland...

 and Lauritsala with his Ford Model-T. Today's modern family business, which has being going strong for three generations, grew from this, and is now run by director Raimo O. Honkanen, Senior Advisor for Road Transport.

In addition to the Eastern Finland region, Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

 and Turku

Turku

Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...

 and their surrounding areas are also core areas. The international traffic handled by the Savonlinja Group comprises a number of routes into Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. The range of services offered includes town and local traffic, service traffic for municipalities, rural traffic, school bus

School bus

A school bus is a type of bus designed and manufactured for student transport: carrying children and teenagers to and from school and school events...

es, ExpressBus

ExpressBus

ExpressBus is a Finnish express coach network covering most of Finland. It is a joint marketing brand of 23 coach operators and it was launched in 1991. The fleet has around 300 coaches with a white base colour and a red-blue arrow. The Savonlinja Group with Pohjolan Liikenne are two of the largest...

 services, versatile passenger and tourist travel, a high-quality charter bus service and a travel agency.

The Savonlinja Group employs some 800 bus-transport professionals and owns over 500 bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

es.

See also: List of bus companies