Zavod Sopotniki – brezplačni prevozi za starejše
English translation. This entry was submitted in Slovenian. It was translated by AI and checked against the original by a second pass. The Slovenian text below is the contributor’s own, and it is the authoritative version. If you spot a translation that misses the point, please say so in the General space.
Zavod Sopotniki – free transport for older people
An older user (65+) from a rural municipality calls the local Sopotniki (‘Co-travellers’) coordinator and orders a free ride. The coordinator checks availability and assigns the ride to a volunteer driver. The volunteer picks the user up from home in a service vehicle, takes them to the doctor, to a specialist examination, to run errands or to a social event – including accompanying them, helping with orientation and carrying things – and brings them back home. The service operates Monday to Friday in 17 municipalities across Slovenia; it is carried out by 350 active volunteers and 14 employed unit coordinators. The institute provides the vehicles, phones and equipment, while partner municipalities, donors and project funds co-finance it.
What it sets out to do
The institute ensures mobility for older people, especially those from rural areas, and thereby access to services and social life
Who it reaches
17 municipalities in Slovenia, 7,200 users, 350 volunteers, 13,830 rides in 2025
Who runs it
NGO
What seems to make it work
An older user (65+) from a rural municipality calls the local Sopotniki coordinator and orders a free ride. The coordinator checks availability and assigns the ride to a volunteer driver. The volunteer picks the user up from home in a service vehicle, takes them to the doctor, to a specialist examination, to run errands or to a social event – including accompanying them, helping with orientation and carrying things – and brings them back home. The service operates Monday to Friday in 17 municipalities across Slovenia; it is carried out by 350 active volunteers and 14 employed unit coordinators. The institute provides the vehicles, phones and equipment, while partner municipalities, donors and project funds co-finance it.
What gets in the way
The biggest structural challenge remains the absence of national systemic funding – Slovenia has no legislation regulating the mobility of older people in rural areas, so the service is built municipality by municipality, with repeated negotiations and a fragmented source of income.
Operationally, what surprised us most is how quickly demand outgrows capacity and how users change over time: those who first ordered a ride at 75 are now 83+ and need considerably more accompaniment, help with orientation and conversation. We underestimated this in the early years.
We also realised that for many users loneliness is a bigger problem than mobility itself – so we subsequently had to develop a companionship programme and a telephone-conversation programme. Today we would build this into the model from the outset.
How it is funded
municipality, national calls for proposals and EU funds
Moving it somewhere else
Yes. The model is highly transferable – as good practice it is formally documented by Interreg Europe and in the report of the European initiative SMARTA (Smart Rural Areas) on smart rural mobility.
Four conditions are key for introducing it in another country or context:
(1) Legal and insurance arrangements – volunteer drivers must be fully insured while carrying out voluntary work in service vehicles. In some countries this requires adjustments to volunteering legislation or special arrangements with insurers.
(2) A mixed funding model – municipalities as the basic pillar, supplemented by donors, sponsors and national or EU funds. Without at least one reliable source, the service will not survive its first year.
(3) A local coordinator embedded in the community – a person whom older people trust and who knows the area. This cannot be replaced merely by a digital app; it is the core of the ‘more than transport’ model.
(4) Digital support for coordination – partners can take over our existing solutions (the call centre, the volunteer-management system, the ToyotaGO app for on-demand rides) or develop their own locally.
An existing volunteering culture speeds up implementation, but is not a necessary condition – in weaker environments it is possible to start with employed drivers and introduce volunteering gradually.
Good practice references:
https://www.interregeurope.eu/good-practices/sopotniki-cotravellers
https://www.interregeurope.eu/good-practices/sopotniki-cotravellers-0
https://ruralsharedmobility.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/SMARTA-GP-Sopotniki.pdf
Read the original in Slovenian
Starejši uporabnik (65+) iz podeželske občine pokliče lokalnega koordinatorja Sopotnikov in naroči brezplačen prevoz. Koordinator preveri razpoložljivost in prevoz dodeli prostovoljnemu vozniku. Prostovoljec s službenim vozilom uporabnika pobere pred domom, ga odpelje k zdravniku, na specialistični pregled, po opravkih ali na družabni dogodek – vključno s spremstvom, pomočjo pri orientaciji in nošenju – ter ga vrne domov. Storitev poteka od ponedeljka do petka v 17 občinah po Sloveniji; izvaja jo 350 aktivnih prostovoljcev in 14 zaposlenih koordinatorjev enot. Vozila, telefone in opremo zagotovi zavod, sofinancirajo pa partnerske občine, donatorji in projektna sredstva.
What it sets out to do
Zavod zagotavja mobilnost starejšim, sploh tistim iz podeželjskih območij, in s tem dotop do storitev in družabnega življenja
Who it reaches
17 občin v Sloveniji, 7200 uporabnikov, 350 prostovoljcev, 13.830 prevozov v 2025
Who runs it
NVO
What seems to make it work
Starejši uporabnik (65+) iz podeželske občine pokliče lokalnega koordinatorja Sopotnikov in naroči brezplačen prevoz. Koordinator preveri razpoložljivost in prevoz dodeli prostovoljnemu vozniku. Prostovoljec s službenim vozilom uporabnika pobere pred domom, ga odpelje k zdravniku, na specialistični pregled, po opravkih ali na družabni dogodek – vključno s spremstvom, pomočjo pri orientaciji in nošenju – ter ga vrne domov. Storitev poteka od ponedeljka do petka v 17 občinah po Sloveniji; izvaja jo 350 aktivnih prostovoljcev in 14 zaposlenih koordinatorjev enot. Vozila, telefone in opremo zagotovi zavod, sofinancirajo pa partnerske občine, donatorji in projektna sredstva.
What gets in the way
Največji strukturni izziv ostaja odsotnost nacionalnega sistemskega financiranja – Slovenija področja mobilnosti starejših na podeželju zakonsko ne ureja, zato storitev gradimo občino po občini, s ponavljajočimi se pogajanji in razdrobljenim virom prihodkov.
Operativno nas je najbolj presenetilo, kako hitro povpraševanje preraste kapacitete in kako se uporabniki spreminjajo: tisti, ki so prvi prevoz naročili pri 75-ih, danes štejejo 83+ in potrebujejo občutno več spremstva, pomoči pri orientaciji ter pogovora. To smo v začetnih letih podcenjevali.
Spoznali smo tudi, da je osamljenost pri mnogih uporabnikih večji problem od same mobilnosti – zato smo morali naknadno razviti spremljevalni program in program telefonskih pogovorov. Danes bi to vgradili že v izhodiščni model.
How it is funded
občina, nacionalni razpisi in EU sredtva
Moving it somewhere else
Da. Model je dobro prenosljiv – kot dobra praksa je formalno dokumentiran pri Interreg Europe in v poročilu evropske iniciative SMARTA (Smart Rural Areas) za pametno ruralno mobilnost.
Za uvedbo v drugi državi ali kontekstu so ključni štirje pogoji:
(1) Pravna in zavarovalniška ureditev – prostovoljni vozniki morajo biti polno zavarovani med opravljanjem prostovoljskega dela v službenih vozilih. V nekaterih državah to zahteva prilagoditve zakonodaje o prostovoljstvu ali posebne dogovore z zavarovalnicami.
(2) Mešani model financiranja – občine kot osnovni steber, dopolnjeno z donatorji, sponzorji in nacionalnimi oz. EU sredstvi. Brez vsaj ene zanesljive postavke storitev ne preživi prvega leta.
(3) Lokalni koordinator, vpet v skupnost – oseba, ki ji starejši zaupajo in pozna teren. Tega ni mogoče nadomestiti zgolj z digitalno aplikacijo; gre za jedro modela "več kot prevoz".
(4) Digitalna podpora za koordinacijo – partnerji lahko prevzamejo naše obstoječe rešitve (klicni center, sistem za upravljanje prostovoljcev, aplikacija ToyotaGO za prevoze na zahtevo) ali jih razvijejo lokalno.
Obstoječa prostovoljska kultura izvajanje pospeši, ni pa nujen pogoj – v šibkejših okoljih je mogoče začeti z zaposlenimi vozniki in prostovoljstvo uvajati postopno.
Reference dobre prakse:
https://www.interregeurope.eu/good-practices/sopotniki-cotravellers
https://www.interregeurope.eu/good-practices/sopotniki-cotravellers-0
https://ruralsharedmobility.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/SMARTA-GP-Sopotniki.pdf
The record
- Lead organisation
- NVO
- Target populations
- Older adults (65+)
- Countries
- Slovenia
- Evaluation status
- Peer-reviewed evaluation
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Publication
- https://www.sopotniki.org
- Contributed by
- Zavod Sopotniki (eng. Sopotniki Institute)
These details are reported by the member who registered the intervention.
Where this entry comes from
This description was submitted to the LONELY-EU mapping of what is being done about loneliness across Europe. It is published in the language it was written in, and reproduced as it was given to us. The contributor gave permission to be named. Recorded aim: prevention and support.
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Cite this entry
Zavod Sopotniki (eng. Sopotniki Institute) (2026). Zavod Sopotniki – brezplačni prevozi za starejše. LONELY-EU Intervention Registry, entry LEU-065. https://buddyboss.silc-exchange.com/interventions/zavod-sopotniki-brezplacni-prevozi-za-starejse/
Reference LEU-065 is permanent. If the entry is corrected later, the reference stays the same.
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