The tourism transport company Go Bus agreed with five banks this month to finance 50% of a deal to purchase 30 tourist vehicles, worth EGP 100m, to be received in April 2018.

The five banks are the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, Emirates NBD, Qatar National Bank (QNB), and the Commercial International Bank-Egypt (CIB).

Maher Nasif, chairperson of Go Bus, said that his company contracted with the five banks to finance 50% of the purchase deal that comes within the framework of the company’s replacement and renewal plan of its Mercedes fleet.

He pointed out that each locally manufactured bus costs EGP 3.5m, which is currently one of the cheapest available buses.

Nasif added that the company now owns 400 buses, and renews its fleet every three years, noting that the company’s oldest bus is a 2015 model.

He further added that 70% of the company’s fleet was locally manufactured by the Manufacturing Commercial Vehicles (MCV), while 30% of the fleet is imported from Germany through its exclusive agent, the MCV.

Go Bus’ fleet normally travels 50,000 km per day, transporting around 5,000 passengers.

Tourism in Egypt is seasonal, as is the case with passenger transport, so Go Bus operates at full capacity during holidays and tourism seasons like the summer, while it drops to just 50% during the rest of the year, said Nasif.

He added that the company approved the establishment of a training centre for drivers with investments up to EGP 10m at Go Bus’ headquarters, built on an area of 100,000 sqm. The project will be launched before the end of this year.

He said the training centre would not only serve his company’s drivers, but it would extend to other companies’ drivers.

Nasif revealed that Go Bus will begin negotiations with Egyptian authorities to obtain the necessary approvals and licenses to establish the new training centre within days.