CROSUSMOB

The EU aims to be climate-neutral by 2050, an objective arisen from the European Green Deal and in line with commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Public transport has its specific role in the cohesion of regions and countries trains are the backbone (TEN-T), aiming to connect the main urban centres; urban buses and trams provide connection within the main urban contexts; and, regional trains and buses increase the accessibility of remote areas.

These three levels of service cooperate to cover three complementary scales: inter-regional, provincial and urban in a sustainable way.

This approach is crucial, as it tries to keep up with the versatility of the car, which often allows users to leave any place, even remote, and reach any city, region or foreign country, in their own way. This kind of competition becomes much more difficult on a crossborder (CB) scale, where more political, technical and managerial difficulties arise.

The challenge of long-distance and CB public transport is based on the need to offer competitive door-to-door solutions in regional contexts based on the knowledge and best practices among partners.

The project has the challenge to increase the CB transports, only 7% of rail passenger traffic is CB and between 2001 and 2019 there was a 1 % increase in total CB services.

The project overall objective is to improve local, regional and national policies to tackle the CB mobility barriers.

Project sub-objectives:

• To embed CB transport strategies in the local, regional and national strategies so that they reflect potential and needs.
• To increase CB travellers as active players in the development of new Sustainable, climate resilient, intelligent and intermodal transport.
• To make sustainable transport an easy option( Appropriate pricing, timetable, connections).
• To ensure sufficient availability of trains, rail coaches and locomotives, accelerating infrastructure modernisation, digitalisation, and interoperability.

Policy:

The Slovenian Transport Development Strategy (STDS) 2030 positions the transportation sector as a key priority for national development. However, the current policy instrument exhibits significant gaps in addressing cross-border mobility. While the Strategy recognizes the importance of cross-border connections for border regions' growth, it lacks a comprehensive framework and concrete measures to develop such links at the national level.

Despite challenges, Slovenia's regulatory framework does provide a mechanism for financing cross-border public passenger transport services. Strengthening this instrument and aligning it with broader strategic goals is crucial. A revision of the STDS is necessary to integrate cross-border public transport into its measures and align it with updated national climate objectives under the National Energy Plan 2030 and the Alternative Fuels Strategy. Enhanced cross-border public transport services could significantly contribute to sustainable transport and help achieve Slovenia’s climate goals.