Many Arab expatriates returning home for the summer prefer to travel by road either in their own cars or by Saptco or private buses operating from the Eastern Province. A number of other GCC nationals are also making use of the bus service. Non-stop Saptco bus trips, which operate from various parts of the Kingdom to destinations in the Middle East, including the GCC, are becoming more popular with Arab expatriate vacationers. Saptco Dammam depot authorities say every year there is a significant increase in the number of passengers carried by Saptco. Ala'a Ibrahim, a Syrian expatriate who works in a petrochemical company, said, “I have already booked five seats to Syria at the Saptco Dammam office. This is my first trip to Damascus by bus along with my family.” “The bus trip to Damascus will take a day and a half. A one-way ticket costs only SR175 and for round trip it will cost me SR275 per person. Traveling by road, I can save a lot of money. I get an air ticket fare from my company for all my family members and I only have to spend 25 percent of that on bus tickets, so I can save 75 percent of the money. Another advantage is that we can take more baggage by bus than plane. We are allowed up to 60 kg free of charge for adults and an extra 25 kg for children,” said Ibrahim. Saptco provides international transport services to ten neighboring countries, namely, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan and Lebanon, through a network of 27 routes with daily trips departing from various cities in the Kingdom. Since Saptco has a wide network of routes, with a fleet of more than 3,000 buses, operating across the Gulf and Middle East, many Arab expatriates prefer to travel by bus for their summer vacations. There are three other major bus companies in the Eastern Province which provide daily bus service to UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Iran. Most of these buses are operating at full capacity nowadays since the vacation season has started. The fares charged by these private bus companies tend to be cheaper than Saptco fares. As a result, many people prefer to travel with these buses and booking a seat can sometimes be difficult at this time of the year. Tariq, a Lebanese expatriate, who drives his Chevrolet TrailBlazer to Beirut every year, said, “My family and I find that it is more comfortable traveling by car and we will be leaving for Lebanon next week. One big advantage is that we can stop the car whenever we want to rest or eat. You can't do that when traveling by bus or airplane. This is the sixth year we have traveled to Beirut by road and of course I save a lot of money by driving, especially as my company is paying me what the airfare would cost me and my family.”
