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.

Bus and Coach World

Barcelona

 

Two centuries, two decades, three ways.

TMB 1803 MAN NL273F CNG with Castrosua body rounds the fountain on Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes in 2019.

It is very seldom that I visit a foreign location more than once but Barcelona is an exception. The first occasion was in 1973 travelling by coach, a French registered Mercedes Benz 0305, from Boulogne via Paris and Madrid. In 2010 it was a lot quicker, with a cheap Easyjet flight and short ‘Aerobus’ hop into the city centre aboard a three-axial Neoplan. The 2019 journey was a long, tiring, day trip from London St Pancras via Paris on Eurostar and French TGV right into the heart of Barcelona.

A Société des usines Chausson with Pegaso engine from the 1973 visit.

In 1973 the city was a commercial hub with a vast expanse of docks and it traded on its Gaudi connection to attract a small number of tourists. The south of the city, towards the docks, was generally out-of-bounds to tourists after dark, apart from those seeking the comfort of a lady for the night. By 2010 the dock area had been gentrified and now housed a large marina and expensive shopping centres, whilst the city at large had become trendy, resulting in a major increase in tourists. 2019 was a shock: the city was overrun by visitors and large numbers of migrants from Africa, boosted by day visitors from cruise ships. The one constant throughout has been the never-ending building of Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia Cathedral, construction work having commenced on 19th March 1882 and projected to be completed within the current decade.  

 

A Pegaso 6035 artic again from the 1973 visit.

The metropolitan area of Barcelona has 164 municipalities covering an area of 636 sq km with a population of 5.5m. Passenger services are provided by Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) with a fleet of 1140 buses and it has additional responsibility for the metro, tram, regional railway, urban railway, city sightseeing buses and the funicular railway. The bus network carries 203m passenger per annum on 109 routes (three D routes, eight H routes, seventeen V routes, seventy-four red routes, seventeen night services and three sightseeing routes).

TUSsal (Transports Urbans i Serveis Generals, Societat Anònima Laboral), MAN NL223 with Caetano body on route B20 from the Barri Oliveres suburb into the city centre Sant Pere terminus. Photographed in 2010 outside La Sagrada Familia Cathedral.

Horse-drawn trams were introduced to the city in 1872, followed by steam trams in 1877. Buses were introduced in 1906 with the first permanent urban bus service beginning in 1922. Services were affected by the ravages of the Civil War. Many of the tram lines were damaged by air-raids and were sabotaged. In addition to this, there was very little capital available with which to run the transport system. In the aftermath of war, the network was gradually repaired and reinstated. In 1951, the municipal government gradually began to take over the management of transport services which had previously been run by private companies and by 1958 what has become TMB had been formed.

 

Left: Aerobus Scania K360 with Castrosua Magnus body at the Plaça de Catalunya city centre terminus in 2019. Right: Aerobus Neoplan N4420 L Centroliner at the Plaça de Catalunya city centre terminus in 2010.

Today the fleet is fairly modern, thanks in no small part to funding from the European Investment Bank with a €73.5 million loan in 2019 for the purchase of 254 buses. This is in addition to €32.5 million invested by TMB in 2018. The last major upgrade took place in the early 2000s and by 2007 the entire fleet was low-floor and wheelchair accessible. Today the investment is centred around environmentally friendly vehicles. The latest funding will provide the city with 116 new electric buses, 63 hybrids and 75 using latest generation compressed natural gas. The renewal will also cover Barcelona’s 20 diesel-powered double-decker tourist buses, which will be replaced with hybrids. The first 105 arrived in late 2019, this year will see another 75 and in 2021 the final 74. These arrivals will complement the 350 existing hybrid buses already in the fleet. Much of the new fleet will be provided by MAN Truck & Bus Iberia, SA, although in 2020 an order was placed for 14 Solaris Urbino Electric and 9 Irizar iZe electric artics for service on route H16.

 

Left: This small MAN was used in 2010 to transport shoppers from the city centre to the up-market shopping areas. Fitted out in rather lavish style with tables, table lamps with frilly lampshades and window curtains. Right: TCC (Transports Ciutat Comtal) Mercedes Benz Citaro at Plaça de Catalunya in 2019.

The TMB operation is best described as functional with the operational fleet, colour schemes and infrastructure meeting the needs of a modern-day city without any major efforts to promote itself. The city architecture does however provide a wonderful backdrop for the bus photographer providing you can avoid the crowds.     

TMB 3613, Solaris Urbino artic hybrid H18 on the Passeig de Colom segregated busway opposite the marina in 2019.

Bus and Coach World

Marrakech 2019

Marrakech was founded in 1062 by Yusuf ibn Tashfin, leader of the Moroccan Almoravid empire, and became the capital of that empire. Later the capital was moved to Fez and subsequently in 1911 to Rabat. Today, 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 and is capital of the mid south-western region of the country. It is the region’s commercial centre and transportation hub for the minerals that are extracted from the Atlas mountains. The city’s main economy is based on tourism as well as agricultural products and is also the headquarters of bus operator ALSA Morocco.

The majority of buses are Scania which are built as knock-down kits at Scania's factory in Katrineholm, for assembly and bodybuilding in Morocco. In 1999 Scania received its first major order from the city for the supply of L94IB city and inter-city chassis. Scania Maroc has a major service facility in Agadir.

Since 1999 ALSA, a subsidiary of the British based National Express Group, 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 main focus for the city network is around Bab Doukala, a one-way system featuring a park situated in the middle of a roundabout just outside the old Medina wall. Twenty-five services terminate or pass through this area, and it includes the northern terminus for the BRT. The Gare Routiere coach interchange is also located here. Additionally, ALSA is responsible for the city sightseeing franchise which it won in 2006 and when the contract was subsequently renewed in 2017, fully electric double-deckers were introduced. 



The city has two departure points for long distance express services. Independents depart from Gare Routiere Voyageurs  on Rue Bab Doukkala, located in the northwest of the city. The coach station consist of two areas, one is a traditional line of herringbone bays open to the elements and the second is a number of unusual undercover bays of dubious architectural design. The departure point for CTM and ALSA express services is from Rue Abou Bakr Seddiq, just south of the central railway station. Both coach stations and the railway station are served by the BRT line.

The BRT line is the first in Africa and commenced on 28 September 2017. ALSA operates services between 06.00 and 23.00 every 6 minutes at peak times and every 12 minutes off-peak. To use the service Moroccans pay 100 dirham (£7.90) per day and 150 dirham for two days, while foreigners have to pay 150 dirham per day and 200 dirham for two days.  A fleet of fifteen Dongfeng Yangtse Veryon G92 trolleybuses were delivered of which twelve are required to maintain the service: these buses cost 4 million dirham each (£316,000.00) and were financed by the Ministry of the Interior. The 12m long, partly low-floor, vehicles are equipped with batteries for off-wire operation (although no wire infrastructure is visible between Gueliz and the central station). The fleet is due to expand by the end of 2019, when ridership is forecasted to be 45,000 passengers a day.  Dongfeng Yangtse is a bus manufacturing company based in the central China city of Wuhan in Hubei province. Formerly known as the Wuhan Public Bus Factory, the company traces its roots back to 1929. They will supply 20 18m long trolleybuses in the near future. 

ALSA 9217, a Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid on Avenue Mohammed V operating route 16 from the central Djemaa El Fna terminus to  Azzouzia - a suburb in the north west of the city.

Dongfeng Yangtse Veyron G92 trolleybus number 08 on the segregated roadway is approaching the Grand Poste intersection on Avenue Hassan 2 heading towards the Gueliz (Bab Doukala) terminus.

Scania with Tata Hispano Habit body passing through the Bab Er Robb arch on route 35 (Sidi Mimoun - Tahnaout).

ALSA 9293 a Scania about to depart on service 38 from the Bab Doukkala terminus to Bengeurir located in the north of the city.

On Avenue Mohammed V  a locally built Irizar body on Scania chassis operating route 1 Bab Doukkala to Arset El Bilk.

 

ALSA 9245 travelling along Rur Oqba Ben Nafaa on route 24 Mimoun to Taheslouht.

Travelling along the public road section of Avenue Hassan 2 parallel to the BRT is  a high floor Scania on suburban service 251 from Sidi Mimoum to Ghmat.

Gare Routiere Voyageurs outside departure bays with a line of independent express operators touting for trade. All the coaches carry locally built Irizar bodies.

The architecturally suspect design for the undercover departure bays at Gare Routiere Voyageurs.

Bus and Coach World