NatEx wins Portuguese contract

National Express has been named preferred bidder for a contract to operate buses in Porto, Portugal. The bid was led by National Express’ Spanish business, ALSA, who will run the services. The contract will run for ten years and is expected to generate revenues of around €500m/£368.96m over the life of the contract. National Express’ services will carry over 75m passengers a year on approximately 420 buses. The operator is now entering further discussions with the relevant authorities to conclude the contract, which is expected to start in the first quarter of 2016.