The Ljubljana urban region is facing an unprecedented amount of traffic and its negative environmental impacts. Recognising that changes are urgently needed in this area, the SmartMOVE project has been joined by the following organisations, taking advantage of the possibility to develop effective measures to promote the use of sustainable mobility among employees in their companies or, in the case of the area of special importance – the Ljubljana Marshes Landscape Park – among visitors to the park.

“The main purpose of the SmartMOVE project is to introduce and promote sustainable mobility in companies and organisations that employ a large number of people and consequently generate a lot of traffic. The project aims to offer concrete measures and incentives, while at the same time empowering and motivating both employees and employers to turn to sustainable mobility”, explained Ms. Lilijana Madjar, Director of RRA LUR, the project’s lead partner. She also stressed that the development of sustainable mobility is one of the priority areas that the Agency has given great importance to since its establishment.

The project, which is fully funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 and Slovenia’s contribution, is worth EUR 1.6 million and will run until April 2024, and involves the interdisciplinary cooperation of eight partners.

In addition to the design of a sustainable mobility certificate, which is being developed at the Jožef Stefan Institute, the project focuses on the development of mobility plans. IPoP – Institute for Spatial Policies is already carrying out a thorough analysis of the travel habits of employees at the UKC, BTC, IKEA Slovenija d.o.o., Studio Moderna d.o.o. and KPLB, on the basis of which a mobility plan will be drawn up for each of these organisations by the Ljubljana Urban Planning Institute (LUZ). This is a document that enables active accessibility management and a reduction in the use of private vehicles by introducing measures that promote sustainable mobility and raise the awareness of users, residents and employees in a positive way, identifying the range of options and the effects of using sustainable transport options for their work location. These will also include new modes of shared transfers as a new approach to sustainable mobility.

“The challenge for Ljubljana and the Clinical Centre for many years has been to ensure the best possible logistics and accessibility for all users of the hospital. First steps have already been taken in this area as UKCL and the Municipality of Ljubljana have started to address accessibility and mobility issues within the UKCL campus, such as the Klinko Kavalir and access to the P+R”, pointed out Jure Dolinar, UMCL Assistant Director General for Investments. However, he hopes that the mobility plan will provide additional accessibility to UKCL for employees, patients and visitors.

Miha Mermal, Executive Director, Marketing and Sustainable Development at BTC d.d., stated that BTC receives more than 21 million visits per year, or 12 million vehicles per year. He pointed out that “BTC employs over 3,000 people who commute to work from different parts of the country. With this project, we want to offer them new transport options and we believe that the project will successfully complement other sustainable mobility modes we are developing at BTC and will further relieve traffic congestion in the BTC area”.

December marks two years since Studio Moderna embarked on a strategic path of sustainable development, where the area of developing a sustainable mindset among employees plays a major role, especially when it comes to mobility. “At Studio Moderna, we already offer free Bigfish folding bike hire to our employees, and we hope that the mobility plan will help us to take further important steps towards more sustainable mobility. We are also looking forward to new transport options, which will be especially welcome for those employees who, due to limited public transport options, do not have a better sustainable alternative”, emphasised Tatjana Demšar Pokorn, Head of Shared Services and Training & Development, Studio Moderna d.o.o.

The Ljubljana Marshes Regional Park comprises seven municipalities and, given the size of the area, awareness of the importance and necessity of sustainable mobility is very high. It is also a commitment in the plans and strategies of the park: “We would like each municipality to have its own entry point through which it would be easier to introduce and manage sustainable mobility. What we are looking forward to in the project are suggestions on how and in what way people can reach the entry points in a sustainable way and then further explore the park in a sustainable way”, said Janez Kastelic, Director of KPLB, summarising his expectations.

Cas Lachaert, Market Manager, IKEA Slovenia, d.o.o., said in his message that IKEA Slovenia is pursuing the global goal of drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the IKEA value chain and that sustainable mobility is an important part of this plan. As a large global company, they are aware of their responsibility to make a difference and offer alternative transport options to employees and customers, and are therefore delighted to join the SmartMOVE project.

One of the most important solutions being tested by the project is a completely new form of sustainable commuting alternative that could be an effective complement to public passenger transport. Marko Guček, CEO of GoOpti, which has developed the dynamic commuter booking platform www.goopti.com/gremoskupaj, says that if users respond positively, the pilot project could develop into a commercial product that would be close to the price of public transport and certainly cheaper than owning a car. However, during the project the transfers will be completely free of charge from the beginning of February until the end of April 2023. Transfers will be available to all commuters travelling from Kranj, Kamnik, Radomlje, Mengeš, Domžale, Komenda or Trzin to work in the BTC and UKC area. The collection points in the localities will be determined according to the applications received by 20 January 2023, and it will be possible to sign up for the transport on existing routes until the end of the test period. You can submit your application at: www.goopti.com/gremoskupaj/prijava/.