Energy for the City of the Future - Ljubljana

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» Electricity use in 2008 showed an increase of
approximately 32% compared to 2000, with
an average increase of 3.6% per year.
of accessibility (traffic jams, congestion) and protection
of the environment (air pollution). The City of Ljubljana is
characterised by a highly developed road network, in which
1,072 km of municipal roads predominate. The total length
of national roads in the municipality is 115.4 km, with the
motorway the longest, at 34.9 km. The total density of the
roads network is 4,246 m/km 2 .
Pan-European railway corridors V (east–west) and X (north–
south) intersect in the section between Ljubljana and Zidani
Most. The total length of the railway network in the City
of Ljubljana is almost 60 km – the density of the railway
network is therefore significantly lower than the density
of the road network. There are 26 railway stations on the
railway network within the municipality.
The total length of cycle paths is 130 km (in 2009), while
in the wider urban region there are currently 25 marked
cycle routes with a total length of 800 km. Cycle paths
predominate in the city centre and connect to cycle routes
towards the periphery.
Traffic is growing denser as a consequence of the process
of suburbanisation, which has become increasingly marked
since the construction of the Ljubljana bypass. The number
of people commuting daily to work is growing, as is the
number of visitors to shopping centres and events of
various kinds. There is also constant growth of transit traffic
of goods vehicles on trans-European corridors. Due to the
green wedges (Golovec, Rožnik and Grad) running into the
city, transversal connections that would take the burden
off the centre are impossible to realise. Railway lines are
also a problem because for the most part they are at the
same level as roads, which means numerous crossings with
barriers.
In 2000 the number of people commuting to work in
Ljubljana from other municipalities was 70,660. In 2009
this number had risen to 106,582. Taking into account
those commuting to the city for school and university
(approximately 50,000) the number is significantly higher still.
On an average working day 1.3 million journeys are made
within the City of Ljubljana (2008). Journeys to work,
shopping and free-time journeys predominate, with the
largest number of traffic flows beginning or ending in the
Center and Bežigrad districts, closely followed by the Šiška
and Jarše districts.
With regard to choice of means of transport, private cars
predominate, with the combined share of other means
of transport together not amounting even to 40% of all
journeys. Average journey time for car journeys within the
Ljubljana Urban Region is 20 minutes, compared to 32
minutes for journeys by public transport, 17.5 for journeys by
bicycle and 15 minutes for pedestrian journeys. The average
speed of city buses is 17 km/h. Average speed of private cars
is 10 km/h higher even during rush hours.
Journeys in terms of purpose – whole-day traffic (%)
18%
24%
11%
Source: Omega consult, 2009.
24%
23%
shopping
free time
work
education
other
City public transport is only attractive in cases where the
origin or destination of a journey is in the city centre. In all
other cases, public transport is not a serious alternative to
using a car.
A total of 212,000 citizens – 79% of the population – live
within 300 metres (or five minutes) of a bus stop. Urban
passenger transport consists of 21 lines covering a total
length of 263 kilometres and carries 82,847,233 passengers
(2009 figures).
Rail transport is one of the most energy-efficient means
of motorised land transport. The busiest railway line is the
line between Ljubljana and Litija, with at least 100 trains
per day, carrying 9,400 passengers. Also very busy is the
Ljubljana–Domžale line, with roughly 40 passenger trains
per day carrying 4,800 passengers. Each day 45 trains carry
2,500 passengers between Medvode and Ljubljana. Other