Two continents, forty-five minutes apart.

 

Just forty-five minutes is all it takes to get from Europe to Africa on the high-speed catamaran that plies the waters between Tarifa, Spain and Tangier, Morocco.

 

Arriving into Tangier in October 2019, it could be described as the start of a National Express odyssey as the city’s bus network has been ALSA operated since November 2013. The majority of city services throughout Morocco are now under ALSA control, the Spanish subsidiary of NE Group. Walking around Tangier, it is apparent that it is an affluent city but with some rough edges that are often associated with major ports. The buses certainly reflected the latter, not being helped by the rather dismal blue livery. The majority of the fleet is made up of aging Scania’s with a mixture of locally assembled bodies operating 44 routes and utilizing 192 buses.

 

                                                 Scania, operator ALSA, location Tangier

Leaving Tangier, it is time to board Africa’s first high-speed train, built using Spanish trains identical to those used in Europe. The line currently only runs to Casablanca, although most of the infrastructure is in place for the entire route to Marrakesh, the express due to arrive fifty years after Crosby, Stills and Nash sang about it.

 

Casablanca is an industrial city set on the Atlantic coast, not quite the dream setting of Ingrid Bergman but perhaps more suited to Sam. The population of 3.4m. is catered for by Casa Bus operating 66 urban and suburban routes, the city is also served by two tram routes. In 2019 ALSA won a fifteen-year contract to operate local services in Casablanca, initially operating 400 buses, which is due to expand to 700 during 2020. ALSA has ordered 500 Euro VI buses from Daimler (420 Conecto and 80 Conecto G) plus 200 Irizar i3le’s built on Scania 320UB4x2 chassis, to update the fleet. 150 of the vehicles have been purchased on behalf of L’ECI AI Baida, the local transport authority.   

 

                                                  Tata Hispano bodied bus in Casablanca

Departing Casablanca, heading north by road along the coastal plan past the Irizar factory, brings us to Rabat, the capital of Morocco, which is a cosmopolitan city with a population of 0.5m. Until quite recently, it was renowned for a shambolic public transport network operated by Stareo, a company that has been in financial difficulties for a number of years. ALSA won the tendering process and now operates in excess of 400 buses on 21 bus routes in the city. A modern two route tram system also crosses the city on segregated roadway.

          Operator ALSA, chassis Scania K250, body Higer, registration 482570WW, location Rabat. 

Heading inland via the walled city of Meknes to Tommy Cooper country, the city of Fez - the first city visited that does not have ALSA as the public transport provider. Fez, once a major city on the Trans-Saharan trade route, today sits at the crossroads to/from all the major cities in Morocco, with a population of 1.2m. With two medinas and a modern city, there is a lot of ground to cover. The modern part of the city is covered by an extensive bus network utilising buses in various states of repair, whilst the oldest medina is served by minibuses terminating at the old wall gate entrance.  Regrettably, finding information on the bus network is impossible.

 

                                                    Fez, Tata Hispano, registration 88544.

Finally, the journey south to Marrakesh. Marrakech is the fourth largest city in Morocco, after Casablanca, Fez and Tangier, with an urban area of 88.80 sq miles and a population of 953,305. Since 1999 ALSA has managed the transport network in the city, and is now operating 42 city routes, three suburban services and the one line BRT route utilizing 257 vehicles. The majority of buses are Scania which are built as knock-down kits at Scania's factory in Katrineholm. With so many tourists visiting the city, the bus network is probably the most accessible in Morocco, with several termini, clearly defined bus stops and readily available publicity. (Marrakesh was covered in detail in a previous article)

 

                                              ALSA, Marrakesh, Solaris, Urbino 18 hybrid.

Considering ALSA forms part of National Express, an operator with a wealth of experience in operating local and express services with easily accessible travel planning information, it is a pity none of this expertise filters down to Morocco. The ALSA website is abysmal, with emphasis on corporate values and no recognition for the demands of the travelling public, such as route planning and timetables. Perhaps if we inhaled some of the hippy smoke, all would be much clearer.

                                          Above: Tram in Casablanca. Below: Tram in Rabat.