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Rabat – Casablanca’s Inter-Municipal Cooperation Establishment (ECI) unveiled yesterday, May 28, the design of the new Casablanca bus fleet, expected to hit the road in January 2021.
Spanish bus manufacturer Irizar, using chassis by Swedish company Scania, produced the new buses at a plant in Skhirat, near Rabat.
The new modern-looking buses boast a vivid yellow color, coupled with dark grey, white, and black accents.
ECI President Imane Sabir led a visit to the Skhirat plant to verify the prototypes of the new bus fleet to serve Casablanca and its neighboring municipalities. Representatives from Casablanca’s local development company, “Casa Transport,” and the company to manage the bus fleet, “Alsa Al Baida,” participated in the visit.
The new bus fleet will include 700 vehicles, including 200 locally produced in the Skhirat factory.
After their deployment, the buses will operate in a network linking the 18 municipalities of Casablanca and its region.
The upgrade of Casablanca’s bus fleet comes after the city’s inhabitants expressed dissatisfaction with the services provided by M’dina Bus, the company that managed buses in Casablanca from 2004 to 2019.
The M’dina Bus fleet was composed of old, poorly-maintained buses. In January 2019, a bus belonging to the company burst into flames in the middle of a crowded intersection. Luckily, no one was harmed in the incident.
In October 2019, Casablanca’s city council terminated the contract with M’dina Bus and signed an agreement with Spanish company Alsa. Rebranded into “Alsa Al Baida,” the company is expected to restructure bus transportation in the Moroccan metropolis and offer upgraded services to the public.
Alsa currently operates a fleet of used buses, taken over from M’dina Bus or imported from Europe, pending the production of its new fleet.
Alsa has been operating in Morocco since 1999. The company manages buses in Marrakech, Khouribga, Tangier, Agadir, and most recently the urban area of Temara-Rabat-Sale.
