Buses in Slovenia!

Bus station at Bled (Vingtar Gorge Bus)

Our itinerary in Western Slovenia was predominantly by bus. Fares were quite cheap (by Australian standards). 

The buses are large, but have no washrooms; multiple operators use some routes. 

Tickets can be purchased on the bus, or from ticket offices in larger towns. The destinations are shown on the front of the bus. Timetables are displayed at the many stopping points, and can be accessed on-line. Schedules can be different on some days, or on holidays and weekends.

Bus station at Bled

According to Wikipedia, the beginnings of the bus transport in Slovenia date back to the early 20th century, when Slovenia was part of Austria-Hungary. The first two bus routes, between Gorizia and Postojna and between Idrija and Logatec, were opened in 1912, with additional four opened before World War I. The length of bus lines was 295 km (183 mi). The transport was primarily organised by the Post Directorate of Austria. After the war, the transport was organised by the Post Directorate of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, gradually joined by private operators. The buses, primarily manufactured by Saurer, Benz, and Daimler, were small and could accept six to ten passengers. The total length of bus lines at the end of the mid-war period was 2,893 km (1,798 mi).

Bus stop at Bohinj Lake

After the end of World War II the bus traffic drastically developed. In 1946 the state ministry of local transport in the People's Republic of Slovenia established the National Bus and Transport Company of Slovenia (Državno avtobusno in prevozniško podjetje Slovenije, DAPPS). In 1948 the company was reorganised to another company named Slovenija avtopromet (SAP) with branches across the country, some of which were later transformed to independent local bus operators. The bus transport gradually replaced the railway transport and became the predominant means of public transport in the 1960s. The bus lines reached over 20,000 km (12,000 mi) (1 km/km2), with 26 million passengers altogether.[23]

In the bus to Bled

Today the bus traffic is the main means of public passenger transport in Slovenia, particularly in towns. The main bus stations are in Ljubljana, Maribor, Celje, and Kranj. The bus transport and the public transport in general have steeply declined in Slovenia in the 1990s, particularly in the western part of the country. They are used mainly by people who don't have other choice. Most people travel with their own car.

Most of our bus trips were good, apart from two unfortunate mixups: leaving Ljubljana we were sold tickets for the wrong bus and had to leave the bus shortly after its departure. This meant a rush back to the bus station to get new tickets with about two minutes to spare. Then, we were waiting for a bus near Portoroz (runs every hour) to take us back to Piran - the bus arrived, but decided not to stop, so an hour's wait for the next one! 

EPILOGUE
This was a very demanding trip, in oppressive heat and huge humidity. For reasons unknown, two of my prebooked day tours from Vienna to Budapest and Bratislava were cancelled by the travel agency - I am still waiting for the refunds.   

I still call Australia home! 

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 CANDID CAMERA ON LOCATION!

At Gardaland Theme Park

At Piran

At Baden

At Lake Como

At Bohinj Lake

At Trieste

At Koper

At Vienna