ALSA (bus company)
Encyclopedia
ALSA is a Spanish
subsidiary of the UK company National Express Group
, which operates bus and coach services in Spain and other countries across Europe
, including Andorra
, Austria
, Belgium
, the Czech Republic
, France
, Germany
, Hungary
, Italy
, the Netherlands
, Poland
, Portugal
, Romania
, Slovakia
, Switzerland
and Ukraine
. It also has operations in Morocco
.
ALSA also had operations in China
and Chile
, but these were retained by the previous owners of the company and are not owned by National Express.
When ALSA was incorporated in 1923, it was merely a regional operator based in Luarca
and Oviedo
, in the Spanish northern region of Asturias
.
route, northwest from Oviedo, with thirteen fixed and thirty occasional stops, a 10 hour journey. This was later extended to Coruña.
In the 1940s and 1950s ALSA extended its network through central and western Asturias. In 1962 the company started a route from Oviedo to Madrid
, and in 1964 started its first international service from Oviedo to Paris
and Brussels
. The company expanded continually to become the leading Spanish road passenger transporter in the 1980s, and by 2000 covered most of Spain and Western Europe
.
In October 2005 National Express
took a majority shareholding in ALSA. However for the time being the ALSA brand is retained in all markets.
In 2007 National Express acquired Alsa's main Spanish competitor, Continental Auto.
In its early years the ALSA fleet was based mainly on NAG
and Saurer
vehicles, with some additional GMCs, Renault
s and Hispano-Suiza
s, but in 1939/40 they bought around seven British ACLO normal control coaches, which in the early fifties were followed by eight forward control units of the Regal III model of the same make, with bodies by Seida
of Bilbao
.
Later, ALSA switched to an all-Pegaso
buying policy, initially still with Seida bodies, and later with Monotral
, Setra-Seida
, Ayats
and Irizar
coachwork; to turn in the early 1980s to Mercedes-Benz
O303 and O404 chassis with successively Maiso, Hispano Carrocera
, Sunsundegui and Noge
Spanish bodies.
Mercedes-Benz is still the main ALSA chassis provider, but the top-of-the-range three-axled Setra
s are the current flagships of the ALSA fleet, many of them in the Clase Supra top-class specification.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
subsidiary of the UK company National Express Group
National Express Group
National Express Group plc is a British transport group headquartered in Birmingham that operates bus, coach, rail and tram services in the UK, the US and Canada, Spain, Portugal and Morocco and long-distance coach routes across Europe...
, which operates bus and coach services in Spain and other countries across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, including Andorra
Andorra
Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. It also has operations in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
.
ALSA also had operations in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, but these were retained by the previous owners of the company and are not owned by National Express.
When ALSA was incorporated in 1923, it was merely a regional operator based in Luarca
Luarca
Luarca is one of 15 parroquias and the capital in the municipality of Valdes, in Asturias, Spain. Situated at an elevation of above sea level, it has a population of 5,354 , and an area of . The village is from the capital, Oviedo. The Nobel laureate for medicine in 1959, Severo Ochoa, was...
and Oviedo
Oviedo
Oviedo is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city....
, in the Spanish northern region of Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
.
History
In the 1920s and 1930s the Alsa flagship service was the 170km Oviedo-Luarca-RibadeoRibadeo
Ribadeo is a municipality in the Spanish province of Lugo in Galicia. It has a population of 9619 and an area of 106.2 km². It is the capital of the A Mariña Oriental region .- External links:*....
route, northwest from Oviedo, with thirteen fixed and thirty occasional stops, a 10 hour journey. This was later extended to Coruña.
In the 1940s and 1950s ALSA extended its network through central and western Asturias. In 1962 the company started a route from Oviedo to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, and in 1964 started its first international service from Oviedo to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
. The company expanded continually to become the leading Spanish road passenger transporter in the 1980s, and by 2000 covered most of Spain and Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
.
In October 2005 National Express
National Express
National Express Coaches, more commonly known as National Express, is a brand and company, owned by the National Express Group, under which the majority of long distance bus and coach services in Great Britain are operated,...
took a majority shareholding in ALSA. However for the time being the ALSA brand is retained in all markets.
In 2007 National Express acquired Alsa's main Spanish competitor, Continental Auto.
Fleet
Nag
Nag may refer to:* Nag Missile, a third generation "fire and forget" anti-tank missile* Nag, a horse that is of low quality.* Nag, a male cobra in Rudyard Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi* Nag, a multi user tasklist manager included in Horde...
and Saurer
Saurer
Adolph Saurer AG was a Arbon, Switzerland , based manufacturer of trucks and buses, under the Saurer and Berna brand names, and active between 1903 and 1982....
vehicles, with some additional GMCs, Renault
Renault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
s and Hispano-Suiza
Hispano-Suiza
Hispano-Suiza was a Spanish automotive and engineering firm, best known for its luxury cars and aviation engines in the pre-World War II period of the twentieth century. In 1923, its French subsidiary became a semi-autonomous partnership with the parent company and is now part of the French SAFRAN...
s, but in 1939/40 they bought around seven British ACLO normal control coaches, which in the early fifties were followed by eight forward control units of the Regal III model of the same make, with bodies by Seida
Seida
Sociedad Española de Importación y Distribución de Automóviles was a Spanish cars and trucks dealer and coachbuilder that later evolved into making integral chassisless motorcoaches, and that in 1998 was subsumed into Evobus.-Chrysler dealer:Seida was incorporated in 1925, and began as the...
of Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
.
Later, ALSA switched to an all-Pegaso
Pegaso
Pegaso was a Spanish make of trucks, omnibuses, tractors, armored vehicles, and, for a while, sports cars. The parent company, Enasa, was created in 1946 and based in the old Hispano-Suiza factory, under the direction of the renowned automotive engineer Wifredo Ricart...
buying policy, initially still with Seida bodies, and later with Monotral
Viberti
Officine Viberti was an Italian manufacturer of trailers, coach and bus bodies and mopeds, better known by its integral Monotral chassisless self-supporting coaches and buses. It was based in Turin...
, Setra-Seida
Seida
Sociedad Española de Importación y Distribución de Automóviles was a Spanish cars and trucks dealer and coachbuilder that later evolved into making integral chassisless motorcoaches, and that in 1998 was subsumed into Evobus.-Chrysler dealer:Seida was incorporated in 1925, and began as the...
, Ayats
Ayats
Ayats is the trading name of Carrocerías Ayats SA, a Spain-based coachbuilder. The company constructs a range of coach bodies on a variety of chassis, and also manufacture their own integral products. Their products are used throughout Europe. The company was established in 1905 by Mr...
and Irizar
Irizar
Irizar Group is a Spanish-based builder of luxury coach vehicle bodies, established in 1889. It is located in Ormaiztegi in the Basque Country, Spain...
coachwork; to turn in the early 1980s to Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz buses
Mercedes-Benz has been making buses since 1895 in Mannheim in Germany. Since 1995, the brand of Mercedes-Benz buses and coaches is under the umbrella of EvoBus GmbH, belonging 100 % to the Daimler AG.-Heritage:...
O303 and O404 chassis with successively Maiso, Hispano Carrocera
Hispano Carrocera
Tata Hispano Motors Carrocera , based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, is one of the largest manufacturers of bus and coach cabins in Europe. It is a fully owned subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. Tata Motors acquired control of the company in 2005, after purchasing a 21% stake in the company...
, Sunsundegui and Noge
Noge
Noge S.L. is a Spanish-based coachbuilder. The company builds bus and coach bodies on various possible chassis. Their products are sold throughout all of Western Europe....
Spanish bodies.
Mercedes-Benz is still the main ALSA chassis provider, but the top-of-the-range three-axled Setra
Setra
Setra is a Neu-Ulm, Germany-based manufacturer of commercial buses and touring coaches, and recently a subsidiary of Daimler AG.The name "Setra" comes from "Selbsttragend"...
s are the current flagships of the ALSA fleet, many of them in the Clase Supra top-class specification.