Trampling the button network? Helsinki to remove crossing call buttons—what about Tampere?

Helsinki plans to remove the pedestrian crossing traffic light call buttons in the central area during 2026–2029, and Tampere could follow the example, Tamperelainen reports. The move is also expected to revive a debate that has not been on Tampere’s agenda since earlier city initiatives.

According to Tamperelainen, Tampere Green city councillor Juhana Suoniemi proposed removing the buttons on pedestrian and cycling routes in initiatives filed in 2018 and again in 2023. In 2019, the city council voted 46–20 to keep the buttons, when discussion focused largely on the rivalry between motorists and cyclists. Suoniemi now argues that the issue is accessibility for people who are most vulnerable in traffic, including small children, older people, wheelchair users and those using rollators. He says the buttons can create repeated obstacles—especially for winter access, for reaching the controls, or when cyclists must dismount to press them from pedestrian-only areas or even from far away.

Suoniemi points to specific intersections around Tampere’s city centre as examples where buttons are positioned more than two metres from cycle paths on both sides of the road at the Lapin-/Naistenlahdenkatu/Pohjolankatu traffic light junction. He also mentions an area by Nokia Arena near the Sorinkatu–Vuolteenkatu approach, where buttons are close to the cycle path on one side but placed next to the button pole on the other. Tamperelainen adds that traffic expert Pia Tuupanen from the City of Tampere says the button issue has not been discussed further since Suoniemi’s proposals, though she considers it possible that conversation will restart because of Helsinki’s decision. Tuupanen notes Helsinki estimates the removals at about 440,000 euros, and says Tampere’s total cost might differ because it has fewer traffic light-controlled junctions than Helsinki’s centre.