As part of the Week of the Alpine Convention, the ninth edition of the Timetables in the Alps booklet was released on 30 May 2017. It contains 71 bus, train, cable car and ferry routes through the Slovenian Alps and also across borders, as well as a selection of bike rental stations and taxi services. This year's booklet has also been upgraded with three additional cable cars and four routes at home and abroad. The print run is 5,000 copies, with a larger proportion in English. As part of the Fire in the Alps campaign, the brochure Seduced to the Mountains was also published with suggestions for hiking-cycling excursions to the mountains in a sustainable way.
The Timetables in the Alps project can be praised not only for its content, which promotes the use of public passenger transport, but also for uniting the interests of 24 different partners who jointly pursue the goals of sustainable mobility, thereby creating conditions for the development of a green economy in mountain areas. They are aware that the effects of using sustainable mobility are long-term and become visible only after a longer period of time. In the Slovenian Alpine area, we unfortunately still encounter poor connectivity of some areas with public passenger transport, for example in the Kamnik-Savinja Alps. A fact that actors and decision-makers in the transport sector must be aware of is that changing travel habits is a long-term process that must follow the needs of the local population. Public passenger transport is rarely, but crucially important for the green development of mountain and other areas. Municipalities are connecting and introducing local "hop on–hop off" buses, which facilitate mobility between municipalities and within them for both local residents and tourists. Despite the invested energy and vision, the interest of municipalities, locals, tourism workers and tourists is unfortunately not sufficient to break through the rigidity of responsible stakeholders at the national level. Therefore, with this project, we want to nudge and encourage cooperation among various involved parties at all levels from local to national.
This year, the importance of sustainable mobility in the sensitive Alpine area was recognised by CIPRA Slovenia, the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention, the Slovenian Tourist Board, the Alpine Association of Slovenia, Triglav National Park, Kärnten Bus, local tourist organisations Bled, Bohinj, Bovec, Idrija, Jesenice, Jezersko, Kamnik, Kranj, Kranjska Gora, Ljubljana, Luče, Maribor, Preddvor, Radovljica, Slovenj Gradec, Solčavsko, Sotočje and Tržič.
The booklet in Slovenian and English is available at all partner organisations, and also in electronic form on the websites of CIPRA Slovenia, the Alpine Association of Slovenia and all partners. It is also accessible via QR code.
Vozni redi v Alpah 2017 Timetables in the Alps 2017 The impact of individual traffic on air quality and other environmental components, quality of life and human health is even greater in the Alpine area than in lowland, better ventilated landscapes. Therefore, CIPRA Slovenia, the Alpine Association of Slovenia and Ekosklad, the Slovenian Environmental Fund, have prepared the Seduced to the Mountains brochure with ideas for excursions accessible by public passenger transport.
The Seduced to the Mountains brochure, which is one of the activities of the Fire in the Alps project (which will be symbolically lit at the main event on 12 August 2017 at the Domžale Lodge on Mali Planina), contains 14 hiking-cycling excursions accessible by train, bus and bike. The selection of excursions covers Pohorje, Kamnik-Savinja Alps, Karawanks, Škofjeloško-Cerkljansko hills and Julian Alps. The presented excursions are interesting for both physically better prepared hikers and families. Many potential excursions are not presented in the leaflet, so mountain visitors are invited to explore the timetables and set off on excursions sustainably. The suggested excursions are selected so that they are feasible in time within the valid timetables of public passenger transport, which are available in the Timetables in the Alps booklet.
All those who set off to the mountains sustainably this summer can participate in the Fire in the Alps 2017 campaign from June to September by symbolically lighting a "fire" on Slovenian peaks (candle, camera flash, phone light...), thereby principally supporting the message of this year's campaign. Participants can send photos from Slovenian peaks with the location and mode of mobility noted to slovenija@cipra.org or post them on social networks #Zapeljanvgore #OgenjvAlpah, #feuerindenalpen and @CIPRASlovenija @PlaninskaZvezaSlovenije @Ekosklad.
Seduced to the Mountains