The history of public transportation in
Åland started some 90 years ago.
Quite a few buses have rolled on the Åland
roads since then.
Two stamps now feature two of them - a Ford TT and a Volvo
L224. The Ford TT from 1924 was initially owned by Rafael Virtanen in Saltvik.
The nickname ‘Smugglers' bus' derives from an incident in August 1925, during
the Prohibition when it was illegal in Finland to sell alcoholic beverages.
One
night, the bus, its passenger and driver Rafael Virtanen were stopped in a
small road in Saltvik by a police constable, the head of the enforcement
district and the county sheriff.
The bus as well as the cargo of
"crayfish", which proved to be liquor, was confiscated.
The case was
treated in the district court twice, Mr Virtanen and his partner being
sentenced to pay a fine for complicity in trickery with liquors. The other bus
stamp shows a Volvo L224 from 1954.
It had 29 + 1 seats and was owned by Toivo
Williams in Lumparland between 1954 and 1967. The bus was out of use until
1978, parked in a coach house in Lumparland. It was later displayed at various
shows in Stockholm and Helsinki, and in 1999 it was inspected to operate as a
classic bus.
It is currently owned by Roland and Rolf Lundström in Inkoo in
southern Finland.
Tired Theodore got its nickname because of its original weak
90 horsepower engine.
Presumably, the vehicle was not meant for quite as heavy
loads as it turned out to carry.
Technical Details
Issue Date: 19.09.2012
Designer: Alexander Lindén
Printer: Southern Colour print
Process: Offset
Colours: 4 Colours
Size: 38.5 x 30 mm
Values: €0.95
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