Arriva awarded Slovenian contract

Arriva has renewed a ten year contract to operate bus services in the Slovenian coastal city of Koper. The new deal is worth over £11.56m/€14m. It will begin on 1 September and will see the introduction of 12 new Mercedes-Benz Citaros and Sprinter City low-emission vehicles alongside new smartcard ticketing technology. The operator currently runs eight buses in the city, which has a population of 47,000. The new contract will increase the fleet to 12 buses with an additional route and more departures. Arriva operates more than 300 vehicles across the country, where it has 460 employees. Its other key bus contracts in the country are in the capital Ljubljana, the cities of Maribor and Novo Mesto and in the coastal region.

Arriva’s MD in the Adriatic region, Bo Karlsson, said, ‘Renewing the contract, and being able to continue to work closely with the transport authority in Koper, is excellent news for Arriva and our employees. We have operated the contract since 1997 and we now have the opportunity to build on our success in the future, not only with a new fleet of low floor, environmentally friendlier buses, but with an innovative ticketing system that we hope will play a role in attracting more people to public transport in and around Koper.’