Red and white beginnings and the tram era (1901–1958)
At the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, Ljubljana experienced rapid urban development under the leadership of visionary mayor Ivan Hribar. To replace the former horse-drawn cabs and carriages and bring the city closer to European capitals, the time had come to introduce the first electric railway in Slovenia.
The first red and white trams reached an enviable speed of 15 km/h for that time and transported as many as 6,400 passengers on the first day. The initial network, under the auspices of the General Light Railway Company, featured 13 motor vehicles and 64 employees. Between the two world wars, the city bought the company and expanded the tram network to more than 21 kilometers of tracks. They also built a new depot in Šiška, which older residents of Ljubljana still call "Tramvajkomanda" today.
After almost six decades, the last Ljubljana tram took its final ride on December 20, 1958. A crowd of thousands of Ljubljana residents accompanied it on the streets in a festive and emotional atmosphere.
Decades of "trolas" and the rise of buses
Already in the mid-1950s, the city authorities started introducing trolleybuses – electric buses connected to an electrified network. The popular name "trola", which residents still use for Ljubljana buses today, originates from this period.
Trolleybuses operated on the city streets until September 1971, when buses with internal combustion engines completely took over public transport. During this period, the company (then known as Ljubljana-Transport) expanded its routes to new residential neighborhoods and connected the city with suburban municipalities.
The modern and green future of LPP
Today, the public company Ljubljanski potniški promet (LPP) manages a modern vehicle fleet that has experienced a radical transformation in recent decades. In addition to the introduction of the Urbana payment system and the digitalization of timetables, we dedicated the main focus of the recent period to ecological sustainability. Compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles gradually replaced classic diesel buses, and in recent years, electric and hydrogen buses have been making a significant contribution to Ljubljana's goal of becoming a carbon-neutral city.
On the 125th anniversary, the company emphasizes that all technological turning points – from the first wooden tram to today's low-floor ecological buses – served the same goal: providing accessible, safe, and friendly mobility for all generations of passengers.
