National Express has secured a €1bn (£869m) contract to run a bus service in Casablanca, nearly doubling its business in Morocco.

The bus operator’s Spanish and Moroccan division Alsa has been awarded the 15-year contract, which will start next month with the deployment of 400 buses, increasing to 700 in 2020.

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The company is now the sole operator in five of Morocco’s six largest urban areas and from next year will run more buses in the country than it does in the UK.

National Express will also introduce new payment and scheduling systems and be responsible for a redesign of the network, which will carry around 100m passengers each year.

National Express chief executive Dean Finch said: “I am delighted we have secured this significant contract in Morocco.

“This nearly doubles our presence in Morocco, which had already doubled in August with Rabat’s successful start-up.

“We will now operate more buses in Morocco than the UK. We look forward to serving the people of Casablanca soon.”

The Casablanca contract follows the expansion of National Express’s second largest US transit contract in Boston.

Read more: National Express revs up sales growth

National Express also won two contracts in New York and one in Connecticut this summer.

Main image credit: Getty

