By far the most popular international route is that to Egypt, via a ferry from Dhuba to Safaga buses run daily from the three major centers of Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. Part of the popularity stems from the lower cost of excess baggage compared with air service many passengers buy tax-free goods in the Kingdom to take home, including bulky domestic appliances. As a result, most outgoing buses on the Egypt route are preceded by a semi-trailer for the baggage. The longest international route is to Turkey, with others to the remaining adjacent states, including a new route to Yemen. All these routes have strong peaks of demand at holiday seasons.
Many passengers are expatriate teachers, working in Saudi Arabia but with families elsewhere.
These operations are supported by a fleet of some 1,300 buses, most of which date from 1994 or later. The mainstay of the fleet are 400 Mercedes O404s delivered in 1994 and 1995. Like all the OTR buses, these are equipped to a high standard with reclining seats, heavy-duty air conditioning and a toilet. In 1985 services in Riyadh carried more than 30 million passengers, but now this is down to around 1 million. There is no doubt that management attention has been concentrated on the profitable OTR operations to the exclusion of local service, which is arguably inherently unprofitable.