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 A First Worcester Wright StreetDeck at Showbus 2017 | |
| Parent | FirstGroup |
|---|---|
| Founded | 6 September 1981 |
| Headquarters | Abbey Lane, Leicester |
| Service area | Herefordshire Worcestershire |
| Service type | Bus services |
| Depots | Padmore Street, Worcester |
| Chief executive | Nigel Eggleton |
| Website | firstbus.co.uk/worcestershire |
First Midland Red Buses, [1] trading as First Worcester, is a bus company operating services in Herefordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
In September 1981 Midland Red West [1] was formed with 183 buses operating from six depots in Gloucestershire, Hereford, Worcestershire and Powys as part of the breakup of the Midland Red bus company. In September 1983 the 20 vehicle Bromsgrove depot was closed. [2]
Based in Worcester, Midland Red West's main areas of operation were Worcestershire, Herefordshire, parts of Shropshire and parts of the West Midlands conurbation, including Birmingham. Birmingham was also served by the other companies formed from the break-up of Midland Red. [3]
In November 1985 Midland Red West introduced a fleet of 60 minibuses to operate its urban network in Worcester as part of a new high-frequency service within the city, operating under the Citibus trading name. The distinctive yellow, orange and blue liveried Mercedes-Benz L608Ds displaced larger buses such as Leyland Nationals onto interurban routes. At its launch the service was the UK's largest urban bus service operated by minibuses. [2]
In December 1986 Midland Red West along with the 40 vehicle Midland Red Coaches [4] was sold to Midland West Holdings [5] in a management buyout. [2] [3]
The livery of many of its vehicles changed from the National Bus Company's poppy red to a deeper red and cream livery. The company also sported a new logo of a Wyvern. Apart from being the name of an imaginary creature, the name Wyvern was also a portmanteau of the 2 major rivers which run through Herefordshire and Worcestershire; the Wye and Severn.
In 1987 Midland Red West Holdings purchased the Bristol Omnibus Company from the National Bus Company. It operated urban services around the Bristol area under the City Line trading name, which was kept.
In April 1988 Midland Red West Holdings was purchased by fellow Bristol operator Badgerline. [6] [7] The trading names of Midland Red West and Badgerline remained unchanged as did vehicle livery, though many of Midland Red West's Leyland Lynxs sported a badger motif on the rear sides of the vehicle. The merger reunited the two constituent parts of the Bristol Omnibus Company, City Line and the Bristol country services which had been separated from in 1986. [8] In 1995 Badgerline merged with GRT Group to form FirstBus. In 1999 Midland Red West was rebranded as First Midland Red.
In 1990 Midland Red West began to expand and modernise its fleet of full-size single deck buses purchasing 50 Leyland Lynxs, which were put into service at Digbeth depot, displacing all that depot's Leyland Nationals. Eight of these Lynxs shortly found their way to Redditch depot and two years later five of these eight Redditch Lynxes ended up at Kidderminster depot, while Redditch acquired four more from Digbeth. [3]
In 1994 37 new Plaxton Verde bodied Dennis Lances, which were now the Badgerline Group's standard full-size single deck bus, arrived at Digbeth, displacing the existing Leyland Lynxes to Kidderminster and Redditch depots. [3]
The modern day fleet mainly consists of Wright StreetDecks, Wright StreetLites, Mercedes-Benz Citaros and Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs, as well as Wright Eclipse 2s branded for The Salt Road.
Most services depart from Crowngate Bus Station in Worcester to Tewkesbury, Ledbury, Bromyard, Droitwich, Catshill and frequent buses to many local areas.
Service 144, branded as "The Salt Road", operates between Worcester and Catshill, and until May 2022, operated hourly services into Birmingham. The Birmingham section of the route was curtailed due to low passenger numbers, bringing an end to the Worcester-Birmingham service after 108 years.[ citation needed ]
The company has one depot located on Padmore Street in Worcester.
In January 2013, the Kidderminster and Redditch depots were sold to Rotala with 36 buses who integrated it with its Diamond Bus subsidiary. [9] [10]
In September 2015, First Midland Red ceased operating services in Hereford with the depot closed. At the time it operated 19 buses. The Hereford routes were taken over by Yeomans while DRM took over the service to Worcester. [11] [12] [13] The company still runs one bus a week on Wednesdays into Hereford from Ledbury.
Worcestershire is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands county to the north, Warwickshire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south, and Herefordshire to the west. The city of Worcester is the largest settlement and the county town.
Kidderminster is a market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, 20 miles (32 km) south-west of Birmingham and 12 miles (19 km) north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2021 census, it had a population of 57,400. The town is twinned with Husum, Germany.
Midland Red was a bus company that operated in The Midlands from 1905 until 1981. It was one of the largest English bus companies, operating over a large area between Gloucester in the south and Derbyshire in the north, and from Northampton to the Welsh border. The company also manufactured buses.
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.
Stagecoach West is a bus operator providing services in Gloucestershire, Bristol, Swindon, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, North Somerset and Herefordshire, in the West of England. The company is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group.
Barnt Green railway station serves the village of Barnt Green, North Worcestershire, England. It is situated 9+1⁄2 miles (15.3 km) south west of Birmingham New Street. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by West Midlands Trains.
Worcester Shrub Hill railway station is one of two railway stations serving the city of Worcester in Worcestershire, England. The other station is Worcester Foregate Street in the city centre. A third station, Worcestershire Parkway, is located just outside the city to the south-east. The station is managed by West Midlands Trains, operating here under the West Midlands Railway brand, and it is also served by Great Western Railway.
Droitwich Spa railway station serves the town of Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire, England. It is located just to the south-west of Droitwich Spa Junction of the Worcester to Leamington Spa Line and the Worcester to Birmingham New Street line. The station is managed by West Midlands Trains, who also operate all trains serving it.
Diamond Bus Ltd., trading as Diamond West Midlands, and also operating under the West Midlands Bus brand identity, is a bus operator in the West Midlands. It is a subsidiary of Rotala.
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.
Eastern National was a bus company operating in south-east England, primarily in Essex, from 1929 to the 1990s.
The Bristol Omnibus Company was a dominant bus operator in Bristol, and was one of the oldest bus companies in the United Kingdom. It ran buses over a wide area of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and neighbouring counties.
First West of England is a bus operator providing services in Bristol, Bath, Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Wiltshire. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
Rotala plc LSE: ROL was an Alternative Investment Market listed company, established in 2005, which owns a number of bus operators in England.
Bus transport in Bromsgrove has a long and varied history, dating back to Midland Red operations. In recent years, however, First Midland Red, which has evolved from the original Midland Red company, has severely reduced operations, leaving many independent operators running in the town.
Worcestershire bus route 144 is a bus service connecting the Worcestershire areas of Catshill, Bromsgrove. Droitwich and Worcester, operated by First Worcestershire. The service dates back to 1914 and was one of the longest-running double-deck bus operated routes, though it is now more common for single decked buses to be used.
'First Manchester, Midlands & South Yorkshire is an operating unit of FirstGroup operating in the English Midlands, Manchester and South Yorkshire. The unit was formed in 2008 with the merger of the management and administration of First Potteries, First Worcester and First Leicester. On 1 June 2020, First Midlands merged with First Manchester and First South Yorkshire. During a group restructure in 2022, Worcester moved from Midlands control to First West & Wales.
The administrative boundaries of Worcestershire, England have been fluid for over 150 years since the first major changes in 1844. There were many detached parts of Worcestershire in the surrounding counties, and conversely there were islands of other counties within Worcestershire. The 1844 Counties Act began the process of eliminating these, but the process was not completed until 1966, when Dudley was absorbed into Staffordshire.
Severn Freewheelers Emergency Voluntary Service is a blood bike charity based in the Severn Valley in western England. Founded in 2007, it provides a free motorcycle courier service to hospitals in the region, operating a fleet of emergency-equipped motorcycles which are ridden and co-ordinated by volunteers. Severn Freewheelers is a founder-member of the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes (NABB) and co-operates with similar organisations in the area including Freewheelers EVS, SERV and Midland Freewheelers.
Media related to Midland Red West at Wikimedia Commons Media related to First Midland Red at Wikimedia CommonsBus operators in the West Midlands | ||
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| Herefordshire |  | |
| Shropshire | ||
| Staffordshire | ||
| Warwickshire | ||
| Transport for West Midlands | ||
| Worcestershire | ||
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