Israel's transit bus company Egged won an eight-year bid through its European subsidiary EBS, Het Parool reports.
EBS - Egged Bus Systems - was founded in 2010 as a part of Israel's Egged Group for the bid. Egged is Israel's largest transportation company.
The eight-year bid, which includes a two-year optional extension, is said to be worth some €500 million (about $700 million).
"This win is a breakthrough for us, as this is our first chance to provide public transportation services in a Western European country," said the Egged chairman Gideon Mizrahi.
"We are prepared to offer the customer a very high quality of service, which will include launching modern buses and combining advanced technologies to improve the travel experience, while meeting advanced environmental standards of quality."
Egged will begin operating suburban bus lines connecting the cities of Purmerend, Hoorn, Volendam, Eda and Wormerveer to central Amsterdam in December. The metropolitan line system will include some 250 new buses.
Egged competed against Connection, a subsidiary of the Veolia concern, the French company Keolis, and Arriva, the current operator. All are leading European service providers.
Egged already operates some 1,400 buses in Poland, including exclusive franchises in Warsaw, Krakow and Bydgoszcz.
