THE FREE SHUTTLE SERVICE TURNS ONE YEAR OLD

23.10.2020  – These days the free shuttle service operating in the Bolzano cemetery turns one year old. The Cemetery of Bolzano is the only one in the region to offer this type of service. 

Conceived by the Podini Foundation and implemented with the collaboration of the Municipality of Bolzano and the Athesia Group, the initiative is aimed at people with severe walking problems and provides them with a shuttle to accompany them to visit the graves of their loved ones.

“This service was inaugurated on 12 October 2019” explains Stefano Podini, representative of the Podini Foundation “and in its first year of activity more than 800 people used it; these are mainly women (63%) over 70; an average of 12 people a day with peaks of 32 people mainly on Sundays (60%). We are very satisfied with this first year of activity but above all we are happy that the citizens appreciated it and made use of it from the start. We have received requests to establish the service also in Merano and we are verifying its feasibility.”

This activity would not be possible without the help of our volunteers. In fact, in order to guarantee the service every weekend of the year, the Podini Foundation makes use of the collaboration of two local associations: Malta Help.bz and Volontarius, along with the employees of Podini Holding. “I want to thank the volunteers who believe in this initiative by dedicating their free time” continues Podini, “sometimes our task is not limited to accompanying them to the graves, but there are cases where the bereavement is very recent and with a word or simply with our presence, we try to give some comfort. ”

“We also believe it is important to thank the main partners of the project, Athesia and Alto Adige, for the visibility and space they always reserve for our initiative and Buratti for the supplies received”, always underlines dr. Stefano Podini.

We also remind you that the winter timetable was introduced starting from Saturday 24 October 2020. The service will take place on Saturday and Sunday from 10.00 to 16.00 (in case of bad weather the service will be suspended).

For All Saints holidays our volunteers will be present as early as 9.00 in the morning.