How long is the average service life of buses in Finland? The VDL in the photo looks very good, it was suspended from operation after a year due to old age?

About 15 years for city buses. The most common maximum age limits in Finland are 16 and 15 years, but some buses have been withdrawn earlier due to middle age limit (mostly 8 years), emission limit (for example Euro6 in Tampere for new contracts) or if operator's need for fleet decreases and nobody wants to buy vehicles.

This time, withdrawn was due to last reason when Transdev slowly ended it's operations in Finland and not all of the fleet was sold. If Transdev would have continued operation in Kerava, they could have used this vehicle until this year (16 years limit).

Sometimes if buses are in good condition and operator don't have newer fleet yet, it is used a bit more like Pohjolan Liikenne and Helsingin Bussiliikenne have done. Pohjolan Liikenne even used some 21 years old buses until January 2018 because they won a new contracts and Nobina made a complaint against one contract so Pohjolan Liikenne could't purchase new buses.

In some towns like Pori, Rauma, Porvoo and Savonlinna there are no age or emission limits. Middle ages are quite high in these towns, but there are not many buses older than 18 years because operators have got newer buses from Finnish cities that have stricter limits or from Norway etc. In Rovaniemi there are 18 years maximum age and 10 years middle age limit. In Varkaus the maximum age limit is 10 years now: the lowest in Finland.

High floor buses for countryside, intercity or charter traffic are mostly in use 17-21 years.

Thanks for the answer!