Casablanca Approves $56 Million Plan to Revamp City Bus System

This agreement, validated during the extraordinary session of the City Council held on Thursday, July 23, features several stakeholders in the sector (municipality, ECI Al Baida, DGCL and Casa-Transport), reports L’Économiste. A budget of 560 million DH is planned for this purpose, the largest part of which will be paid by the CUC (300 million DH) and will be used primarily to finance part of the new bus fleet (half of the 700 buses planned). Based on its contractual commitments, Alsa will finance the remaining 350 buses. For its part, the DGCL (General Directorate of Local Authorities) will contribute 200 million DH to this budget, while the ECI Al Baida (establishment grouping all 18 municipalities of Greater Casablanca) will pay 60 million DH.

The execution of the terms of the agreement is entrusted to Casa-Transport, which will thus play the role of coordinator between the various stakeholders. Meanwhile, the SDL will receive the financial contributions and prepare a report every 6 months on the progress of the execution of the delegated management contract and the amounts paid to the delegatee (Alsa), indicates the same media.

In this new start for bus transport in Casablanca, we note 2 operators (RATP Dev and Alsa) on the one hand and 2 delegating authorities (the municipality and the ECI Al Baida) on the other, and a monitoring committee. Enough to ensure sound management and avoid the mix-ups observed in the past. Ultimately, the new bus network will be complementary in its service to the 4 tramway lines and the 2 high-level bus service (BHNS) lines, offering a bus/tram or bus/BHNS fare through the rechargeable card currently operational on the tramway lines, specifies the same source.