Hife Group History
The Catalan company La Hispano de Fuente En Segures, SA (HIFE), with headquarters in Tortosa (Tarragona), was founded in Benassal (Castellón) in 1915. It is difficult to briefly summarize more than one hundred years dedicated to the mobility of people. In essence, the company began its journey through the province of Castellón with a Hispano Swiss bus, plate number CS-17. That first vehicle covered practically the entire province of Castellón with regular lines, and in a short time it was expanded with regular services to the province of Valencia.
At the same time, in 1,927, it inaugurated the first service station of Tortosa "Estación de Servicio 4 Caminos,S.A." for the supply of fuels in general.
In 1925, Hife arrived in Catalonia with the award of the regular line Tortosa - Valderrobres and Tortosa - Vinaroz. During this time, the company grew acquiring and consolidating regular lines in the provinces of Tarragona, Community of Aragon and own of Valencia and Castellón. • In the '50s, it entered the discretionary market with bases in Madrid and Barcelona, in addition to gaining international experience with the regular line between Barcelona and Frankfurt. At this time the first bar opens at Tortosa bus station.
In the '70s the first Restaurant "SNACK BAR Cap de Ball" was inaugurated and ESPATUR TRAVEL is also created. In the late '70s, Hife will arrive on a regular line to Barcelona, inaugurating the la Répita - Amposta - Tortosa - Barcelona motorway line. An international regular line is also created that matched Madrid, Zaragoza and Barcelona with Genoa, Florence and Rome.
In the 80', Hife established lockers in Tarragona, Salou, Cambrils and Peñíscola. Start your services from Zaragoza to the Costa Dorada and Costa de Azahar. It also debuts the new Hotel Bus or car-bed coach, with discretionary trips throughout Europe.
In the 1990s, Hife started the urban service of Tortosa by Ebro Buses. Through union of companies arrives on a regular online to Madrid from Tarragona and Salou. Later, extensive services joining northern Spain (San Sebastian, Bilbao, Vitoria, Pamplona and Huesca) with the Costa Dorada and Azahar.
In an age of technological advances, it adapts by creating the chip card with contact with which all customers enjoy a discount for their use and creates the website www.hife.es
In 1992 the Hife Group was selected by the American Sponsor Mars Company, for the transport at the Barcelona Olympics of visitors from more than 40 countries.
Creates the wholesaler Hifetours that depends on Viajes Terminaltour,s.l. and specializes in congresses, large groups and tourist recipient. With the birth of Port Aventura creates tourist packages dedicated to the theme park.
Hife is awarded its effort and in 1997 is selected in Spain "Best Company of the Year in Regular Online Passenger Transport".
Start the 21st century by expanding its services and opening 2 Cap de Ball restaurants in Tortosa, as well as 3 la Pineda and Tortosa retail agencies. It also acquires most of the Stadium Service Station with the flag bearer Cepsa creating a parking for industrial vehicles of 160 industrial vehicles.
The summer of 2004 is selected as official carrier of the World Rowing Championship held in Banyoles (Girona) and in which 67 countries from all over the world competed. Urban transport begins in the coastal towns of Calafell and Amposta.
In 2005, the book "Veus i Teclats" was presented on the occasion of Hife's 90th Anniversary celebration. All the proceeds go to the "Associació de Malalts d'Alzheimer de les Terres de l'Ebre".
In 2008, wholesaler Hifetours was elected official ticket sales agent for Expo Zaragoza 2008 and urban transport was initialized in Peñíscola, Torredembarra and Cubelles.
In 2009, Hife acquired the concessions of the company Automobiles Bajo Aragón, S.A. (Abasa) that connected the main towns of Lower Aragon with Alcañiz and Zaragoza, and also had several lines in the provinces of Teruel and Zaragoza. It also performs the teruel – Alcañiz – Gandesa – Reus – Barcelona, and Zaragoza service with Belchite, El Burgo de Ebro, Escatrón, Caspe, Alcorisa, Andorra de Teruel, Azaila, etc. Like Hife, it provided discretionary national and international services, as well as adapted and disabled transport services. Thanks to the union of both transport networks, Hife significantly improves service between the communities of Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia.
In 2010 create the Virtual Bonus. An exclusive discounted card online. • In 2011 it acquired the company Autocares Segarra,s.l., founded in 1,902 with a long experience in the world of passenger transport in the Province of Tarragona both regularly and at discretion. It establishes its own base in Tarragona.
In 2013 Hife inaugurated base in Alcañiz and joined the already operational ones of Zaragoza, Vinars, Tarragona, Tortosa and Calafell. Also this year, he began managing the Cervantes Service Station, in Tortosa.
Also in August 2013 it presents its first base outside Spain, in Malabo (Republic of Equatorial Guinea) where he began working regular lines, school transport and service for companies in that African country. In November of the same year, Hife-GE transported members of the Spanish football team, VIP's and press in general, during the visit of this team to Malabo for a friendly match between the teams of Equatorial Guinea and Spain.
In 2015, coinciding with the Centenary of the Foundation of the Company, he presented the book "Hife, One Hundred Years of Company". It also extends expeditions to Barcelona and Tarragona from the Ebro Lands accompanied by an important rate improvement campaign. New subscriptions/discounts such as the T10/120 are introduced and the loyalty offer with contactless cards, virtual vouchers, self-selling kiosks and ticket sales is expanded through smartphone or tablet devices.
In 2016, the company Autobuses Guiral, based in Caspe (Zaragoza) joins Hife. Guiral, specialized in discretionary and school transport, works mostly in the Shire of Lower Aragon, which allows a clear improvement of service in that Aragonese area.
In recent years, Hife has reinforced its presence in the personal mobility sector in the Community of Madrid, opening two operational bases ―in Alcobendas and Lozoyuela (Madrid)― and also expanding its services in the provinces of Zaragoza, Teruel and Tarragona. At the same time, in 2023, it has begun regular line operations between Andorra la Vella (AND.) and Lleida, La Seu d'Urgell and its airport, and has established a new operational headquarters in the Principality of the Pyrenees to develop occasional services.
Currently, the Group is also present in the tourism sector, offering services with the travel agencies Terminaltour, SL (as a wholesaler), and HifeTours (as a retailer); in the restaurant sector, operating under the brand Cap de Ball, SL; in the energy sector (service stations), working with the Estadio, SL (flagship with Cepsa) and 4 Caminos, SA (flagship with Repsol) brands, and also in the real estate sector, with the services company Dertusa Serveis Inmobles. Within its own sector (transport of people), Hife operates with the brands Autocares Sanfiz; La Hispano Aragonesa de Movilidad, SL; the Autocares Hife brand itself, and Autocars Andorra 2011, SL (this latter is in the country of Andorra). It also has five own workshops for bus maintenance, distributed between Catalonia, Aragon, and Madrid.
With the experience gained over more than a century, the group is working to offer a more inclusive and safer mobility, with a fleet renewal plan, adapted to the new requirements of decarbonisation, more respectful of the environment and implementing innovative technological solutions to offer a better mobility offer to our customers and users.