 | |
 Wright StreetDeck Hydroliner in Peterculter, Aberdeen in 2022 | |
| Parent | FirstGroup |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1986 |
| Headquarters | Aberdeen |
| Service area | Aberdeen |
| Service type | Bus services |
| Routes | 23 |
| Fleet | 129 (July 2022) |
| Website | www |
First Aberdeen [1] is the main bus company operator in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
Aberdeen Corporation Tramways was formed on 26 August 1898. The company was renamed Aberdeen Corporation Transport Department when it became solely a bus operator with trams ceasing on 3 May 1958.
Under local government reorganisation in 1975, the Aberdeen Corporation bus operations transferred to Grampian Regional Transport, a department of the Grampian Regional Authority.
To comply with the Transport Act 1985, Grampian Regional Transport was incorporated in 1986, [1] with the Grampian Regional Authority retaining ownership.
In January 1989 the company was privatised under an employee stock ownership plan led by its general manager Moir Lockhead. [2] At the time GRT operated a fleet of 200 buses and 500 employees. [3]
Unlike future similar sales in the UK, the sale of Grampian Regional Transport was done voluntarily by the council which had no overall majority party and had no deep rooted objection to the sale. At the time, councils could negotiate privately with single buyers, rather than the later practice of competitive bidding. It was a sale of a going concern, rather than as seen in other areas in later years, a distress sale, or a forced sale for political reasons. [4]
While the company continued to operate as GRT in Aberdeen, its holding company GRT Bus Group expanded through acquisition purchasing six former nationalised bus companies in England and Scotland. In April 1994 GRT Bus Group became a public limited company. In April 1995 FirstBus was formed through the merger of the Badgerline and GRT Bus Groups, with fleets in England, Wales and Scotland. Aberdeen was selected as the headquarters. [5]
In February 1998 Grampian Regional Transport was rebranded as First Aberdeen.
Aberdeen Corporation had a dark green and white livery, later becoming pea-green and cream. Council owned Grampian Regional Transport changed this livery, by removing the upper green band, replacing it with a thinner orange band, with Grampian fleetnames and a council crest. When privatised, a scheme with a larger area of cream base colour, supplemented by a two-tone green stripe pattern was adopted.
The cream base and stripe layout would become the corporate livery for the GRT Group, albeit with different colours for the stripes. The First Grampian livery consisted of the existing livery, with the fleetname changed to the FirstBus corporate style with the stylised f symbol. FirstGroup corporate livery was adopted in 1998 upon being rebranded as First Aberdeen.
As of March 2013 the First Aberdeen fleet consisted of 173 buses and coaches. [6] [ needs update ] The most common bus models as of 2023 are Alexander Dennis Enviro300, Wright StreetLite and Yutong E12 single-deckers, as well as Wright StreetDeck double-deckers. There is also the double-decker Alexander Dennis Enviro400 and Mercedes-Benz Citaro articulated buses.
A mainstay of the Grampian Regional Transport fleet in the 1970s up to 1983 was the Alexander AL Type bodied Leyland Atlantean, supplemented by the Leyland National single-decker bus. In 1985 it moved to Alexander RH bodied Leyland Olympian double-deckers until 1988. From 1991 to 1997 the company steadily bought the Mercedes-Benz O405 single-decker.
Grampian Regional Transport was one of the first UK users of articulated buses, taking delivery of a single 17.6 metres (58 ft) Alexander-bodied articulated Mercedes-Benz O405G in November 1992. [7] Aberdeen is one of the major locations for articulated buses in the United Kingdom with around 35 in the fleet in December 2013. [6] [ needs update ]
In 2014, First Aberdeen purchased 26 Wright StreetLite micro-hybrid buses. [8]
First Aberdeen were the world's first operator of double-decker hydrogen fuel cell buses, taking delivery of 15 Wright StreetDeck Hydroliners in January 2021. [9] These were initially taken off the road in January 2022 due to technical faults and were temporarily replaced with Euro VI diesel buses loaned from First Glasgow. [10] [11] The first of these returned to service in April 2022. [12] 10 more joined the fleet in April 2022, bringing the total fleet of Hydroliners to 25, [13] which would be joined by 24 Yutong E12 battery electric buses, entering service with First Aberdeen in July 2023. [14]
The company has occupied a historic depot site at 395 King Street at the heart of the city since 1914. It was built in 1862 and bought by Aberdeen Corporation Tramways [2] The site has also served as global headquarters of FirstGroup since its formation in 1995. On 21 June 2007 First gained permission to redevelop the site into a new Aberdeen bus depot and global FirstGroup headquarters building. It was officially opened by Anne, Princess Royal on 15 July 2010. [15]
Most First Aberdeen services are operated commercially, an exception to this is the council subsidised Service 40 which operates from Guild Street to Dubford on Sundays. The company operates an exact fare policy, whereby no change is given by the driver, though they also allow contactless payment along with payment through the First Bus app on the Android and iOS mobile operating systems. The fleet was one of two divisions in FirstBus picked to trial the new "ticketer" ticket machines at the start of 2017.
FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland. The company operates transport services in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
A double-decker bus or double-deck bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-deckers are used primarily for commuter transport, but open-top models are used as sightseeing buses for tourists, and there are coaches too for long-distance travel. They appear in many places around the world but are presently most commonly used as mass transport in cities of Britain, and in Ireland, Hong Kong, Berlin and Singapore.
Eastern Scottish Omnibuses Ltd. was a bus and coach operator based in Edinburgh, Scotland and a subsidiary of the Scottish Bus Group. Eastern Scottish was formed in June 1985 from the main part of Scottish Omnibuses Ltd., which had itself traded as 'Eastern Scottish' since the 1960s. Following privatisation in 1990 the company traded as 'SMT' reviving the original name of the company. It operated until 1994, when it became part of GRT Bus Group plc.
Badgerline was a bus operator in and around Bristol from 1985 until 2003. Its headquarters were in Weston-super-Mare. Initially a part of the Bristol Omnibus Company, it was privatised in September 1986 and sold to Badgerline Holdings in a management buyout. It went on to purchase a number of bus companies in England and Wales. In November 1993, Badgerline Group was listed on the stock exchange and, on 16 June 1995, it merged with the GRT Group to form FirstBus.
First Potteries is a bus company based in Stoke-on-Trent operating services in North Staffordshire, England. It is a part of First Midlands and a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
Leicester Citybus, trading as First Leicester, is a bus operator providing services in Leicester. FirstGroup own 100% of the company after purchasing Trentbartons 6% shareholding in 2023.
Metro is the trading name for bus company Citybus in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a subsidiary of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, within the common management structure of Translink, along with Ulsterbus and Northern Ireland Railways.
First York operates local bus services, with a network centring around the cathedral city of York, North Yorkshire, England. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup, which operates bus, rail and tram services across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
First Cymru is an operator of bus services in South West Wales. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. With its headquarters previously in Swansea, it is now part of the First Wales and West region which also covers Bristol, Bath and Worcester, with its headquarters in Bristol. With 220 vehicles, it is the second largest bus operator in Wales after Stagecoach South Wales.
Interline Bus Services was an Australian bus company which operated services in South West Sydney.
South East London & Kent Bus Company Limited, trading as Stagecoach London, is a bus company operating in central and south London and some parts of north-west Kent. The Selkent brand is a subsidiary of Stagecoach London and operates services under contract to Transport for London. The Selkent brand is not publicly used since 2010 as all buses are branded as Stagecoach, but it exists as a legal entity.
Maidstone & District Motor Services was a bus company based in Maidstone, Kent. The company operated bus and coach services in Mid and West Kent and East Sussex from 1911 until 1998. The company's surviving operations were absorbed into Arriva Southern Counties.
The network of transportation in Aberdeen is extensive and diversified, like that of many comparably sized cities.
South Notts Bus Company was a bus company operating in Nottinghamshire from 1926 until 1991 when sold to Nottingham City Transport who continue to use the brand name today.
Pennine Blue, later known as First Pennine, was a bus company serving the Tameside area of Greater Manchester, England. It was an independent bus company running services to/from Ashton-under-Lyne in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Its depot was initially based at Britannia Street in Ashton-Under-Lyne, before moving to the Globe Industrial Estate in Dukinfield, and finally to the current location on Broadway in Dukinfield where it now operates as first pioneer.
First West Yorkshire operates both local and regional bus services in West Yorkshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the FirstGroup, and is made up of three sub-division brands: First Bradford, First Halifax, Calder Valley & Huddersfield and First Leeds.
First Midland Red Buses, trading as First Worcester, is a bus company operating services in Herefordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup, and is managed as part of the First West of England business unit.
Articulated buses, colloquially known as "bendy buses", were rarely used in the United Kingdom compared to other countries, until the turn of the millennium. This was due to a preference for the double-decker bus for use on high capacity routes. In June 2006, there were over 500 articulated buses in the United Kingdom, although they were still heavily outnumbered by double deckers. The majority of this fleet was used in London, although these buses would be withdrawn by end of 2011.
GRT Group was a bus operating company in the United Kingdom from 1989 until 1995. It was formed when Grampian Regional Transport (GRT) was privatised. It went on to purchase a number of bus companies in England and Scotland. In April 1994, GRT Group was listed on the stock exchange, and in June 1995 merged with Badgerline to form FirstBus.
The King Street Barracks is a former military installation in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is a Category C listed building.
