STA, 27 July 2021 - A coach service linking Tolmin in western Slovenia with Cividale del Friuli in Italy during the summer season was launched on Tuesday with a promotional ride and a meeting between mayors from both sides of the border.
Running in July and August, the service was put into operation with the help of Crossmoby, a project under the Interreg programme of interregional cooperation between Slovenia and Italy which is supported by the European Regional Development Fund.
Passengers on the maiden ride included the mayors of the three Posočje municipalities, Uroš Brežan of Tolmin, Marko Matajurc of Kobarid and Valter Mlekuž of Bovec, who met Cividale del Friuli Daniela Bernardi during their informal visit.
Viljam Kvalić, the head of the regional tourism board, sees the link as a big step forward for the Soča Valley, being that it does not have many good public transport links with the rest of Slovenia and other countries.
"As we also get a rail link and more bus lines connecting us with Italy in the future, this will be our gateway to the world," Kvalić told the STA.
The Crossmoby project is seeking to improve sustainable mobility planning throughout the cross-border region in a bid to establish new cross-border transport services.
The whole project is valued at just over EUR 4 million, of which 85% in EU funds. EUR 30,000 has been obtained for the Tolmin-Cividale del Friuli link.
As part of the project a cross-border rail service has linked Ljubljana and Trieste.
