Check out Koper’s new modernist bus station

It looks like a surfboard and features Slovenia’s first self-cleaning toilets

Koper is the main town of Slovenian Istria and the gateway to its short, but pretty, Adriatic coastline. As of Monday, 22 August, it also boasts a brand new bus station featuring an attractive elliptical and minimalist design that is sure to please tourists and citizens alike.

The station is meant to revive the local pride of the town and to serve as a draw for visitors, especially considering that the previous station was very dilapidated and roofless. As if, in response to that, the new station’s main feature is precisely its elliptical roof supported by poles.

The facilities of the new station

The design represents a canopy measuring 55x24 metres, and hovering above 14 bus docking platforms, and an area where passengers can wait protected from the sun and rain.

The facility was inaugurated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony by the mayor of the town Aleš Bržan who sang its praises:

"The new bus station is not only modern, functional and friendly, it is also the foundation of the multimodal hub of the future, which every ambitious European city must design. In this area, we want to start the heart of the city's passenger traffic, which will offer passengers the possibility of combining different means of transport. Bus and train, public passenger transport and city bikes, and to bring the city centre closer with free electric vehicle rides, which we introduced in this term."

Apart from the cool design, the station also features some notable facilities, chief among them – the first self-cleaning public toilers in Slovenia!

Furthermore, the outer benches are equipped with glass protection, which will protect seated people from the wind. In the immediate vicinity of the station, there is also a ground-floor facility with a waiting area, ticket offices, toilets and catering. 

As part of the investment, the municipality arranged a station for city bikes and urban equipment, as well as a parking lot with three spaces for short-term parking of buses and ten taxi stands.