The Moventia group has just won the concession for urban, intercity and school transport in the Pays Grasse area, in France, an area close to Nice and Cannes that encompasses 23 municipalities with some 100,000 users. Moventia has committed to investing 30 million euros for the construction of a new operating base and the renewal of the fleet of 70 buses. It is a contract for ten years and an amount of 113 million.
Moventia has already been established in France for five years in the Montbéliard area, where it operates a fleet of 170 buses with a contract that ensures 20 million a year.
“All of this is part of our internationalization strategy, which we launched six years ago,” explains President Miquel Martí. “We understand that Spain is a mature country, we are attentive to any opportunity for organic or inorganic growth, but we think that significant growth will come from internationalization,” he adds. The focus is on Europe, where it already has important interests in Portugal, and in the Middle East, in Arabia, which is now launching a public transport network. Since October 1, Moventia operates, together with other partners, the urban transport of Mecca, with 150,000 passengers a day. And in the country it has other projects in the portfolio, which Martí hopes can be activated shortly.
The group controlled by the Martí family plans to close this year with a turnover of 700 million euros, which would recover the levels prior to the pandemic. Its president assures that Moventia is fully committed to “the objective of zero emissions in 2035”, but for this it needs help from European funds and a revision of the concession contracts. “We must find a new legal and economic framework that allows us to face the investments to increase public transport and at the same time decarbonize it,” he highlights. That could imply a rise in rates and lengthening of contracts. “Decarbonization requires strong investments, but we must bear in mind that we have had two very hard years of the pandemic and then a price increase has come that reaches 160% in the case of fuel and 300% in gas,” he argues.
“Between 2020 and 2023 we are going to invest 120 million but that is not enough for the decarbonization of public transport. And we must take advantage of the Next Generation funds, because it is a once-in-a-lifetime occasion,” he adds.
Martin complains. on the other hand, of what he calls “unfair competition” from Renfe with the free transport voucher, while in bus transport the discount is limited to 50%. With 5,000 employees, Moventia has two business areas: public and private transport under the Moventis brand; and the sale of cars under the Movento brand.
