FirstGroup

FirstGroup plc

Company type	Public
Traded as	LSE: FGP FTSE 250 component
Industry	Transport
Founded	1 April 1995
Headquarters	Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
Area served	United Kingdom Republic of Ireland
Key people	Peter Lynas (Acting Chairman) Graham Sutherland (Chief Executive)
Products	Bus, coach, rail & tram
Revenue	£4,715.1 million (2024)
Operating income	£46.5 million (2024)
Net income	£(9.4) million (2024)
Number of employees	29,339 (2024)
Subsidiaries	See below
Website	www.firstgroupplc.com

FirstGroup is a transport organisation that operates both buses and rail across the United Kingdom. They are based in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Major rail operations from past and present include First Great Western, First Capital Connect among others

Current operating businesses

Current operating businesses include:

First Bus

In September 2022 First Bus was reorganised as follows:

United Kingdom

Buses of Somerset liveried Alexander Dennis Enviro200 44079 in Ruishton in July 2021

Scotland

• First Aberdeen (formerly First Grampian)
• King Coaches (formerly First Aberdeen Coach Hire and Grampian Executive)
• First Glasgow (formerly First Kelvin and First Greater Glasgow)

East of England

• First Eastern Counties
• First Essex (formerly First Eastern National, First Thamesway)

Manchester, Midlands and South Yorkshire

• First South Yorkshire & Midlands
• First Leicester (Leicester Electric) (Formerly Leicester city bus, Leicester corporation transport)
• Aircoach(Leicester to Birmingham Airport)
• East Midlands Airport Carpark shuttles (First Leicester)
• First Greater Manchester (Bee Network)
• First Potteries (operating in Staffordshire and South Cheshire, formerly First PMT/PMT Limited)

First Potteries Scania Omnicity in Stoke-on-Trent (January 2020)

• First South Yorkshire (formerly First Mainline)

North and West Yorkshire

• First West Yorkshire
• First Bradford
• First Halifax, Calder Valley & Huddersfield
• First Leeds (Leeds Electric)
• First York (including the York Park & Ride)

South and South West England

• First South West (formerly First Devon & Cornwall)
• Kernow
• Buses of Somerset
• First Beeline (formerly First Berkshire & The Thames Valley)
• First Hampshire & Dorset
• Truronian

Wales and West of England

• First West of England (formerly First Bristol & First Somerset & Avon)
• First Worcestershire (sometimes referred to as First Wyvern)
• First Cymru

Other operations

• First Travel Solutions re-branded 2016 (formerly First Rail Support) which provides emergency and planned rail replacement transport to train operating companies using First and non-First Transport through its 24-hour control room in Clayton-le-moors Lancashire.
• First Tram operations (Tramlink) Taken over by First Group in 2017 it deals with one of the two Lite rail networks in greater London.
• Specialist Passenger Solutions
• Ensignbus
• York Pullman
• Lakeside Group
• Anderson Travel

Ireland

Aircoach Jonckheere SHV bodied Volvo with destination of Greystones in Shankill

• Aircoach
• Matthews Coach Hire

First Rail

United Kingdom

TransPennine Express Class 802 'Nova 1' at Newcastle in September 2020

• Avanti West Coast (70% shareholding)
• First Rail Stirling (former part of Grand Union)
• Great Western Railway
• Hull Trains
• London Tramlink
• Lumo
• South Western Railway (70% shareholding)
• IFS Cloud Cable Car operated on behalf of TfL

Former operating companies

FirstGroup Rhein-Neckar Mercedes-Benz Citaro in Mannheim in August 2008

Bus and coach

Canada

• Greyhound Canada (intercity bus services)
  • Grey Goose Bus Lines
  • Vancouver Island Coach Lines
  • Voyageur Colonial Bus Lines
  • First Student (school, charter bus and public transit services)
  • HandyDART Contract to TransLink (British Columbia) for accessible transit service in Metro Vancouver

Germany

• FirstGroup Rhein-Neckar sold September 2011 to Marwyn European Transport

Hong Kong

• New World First Bus 26% stake sold May 2000 to New World Development

United Kingdom

• First Chester & The Wirral sold to Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire in January 2013
• First Northampton ceased 14 September 2013
• First Scotland East (formerly First SMT, First Borders and First Midland Bluebird) sold to McGills in September 2022
• First London from March 1997 until September 2013, most operations sold to Go-Ahead London, Metroline and Tower Transit, remainder ceased upon expiry of contracts in September 2013
• Greyhound UK coach services between September 2009 and December 2015
• First Borders (formerly Lowland Scottish and part of the wider First Scotland East group) sold to West Coast Motors, trading as Borders Buses, on 26 March 2017.
• First Southampton (also known as First Cityred) ceased trading on 18 February 2023.

United States

• Greyhound Lines (intercity bus services)
  • BoltBus (a discount operator competing with Megabus)
• First Vehicle Services, which maintained vehicles for many corporations, organizations and local governments, including the other First divisions.
• First Student, sold in 2021
• First Transit, sold in 2021

Rail

United Kingdom

• First Great Eastern from January 1997 until April 2004, incorporated into Greater Anglia franchise subsequently operated by National Express as One
• First North Western from March 1997 until December 2004, operations split between Arriva Trains Wales, First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail
• First GBRf from August 2003 until sold in June 2010 to Eurotunnel Group, rebranded as GB Railfreight
• First Capital Connect from April 2006 until September 2014, succeeded by Govia Thameslink Railway
• First ScotRail from October 2004 until March 2015, succeeded by Abellio ScotRail & Caledonian Sleeper
• First TransPennine Express (55% shareholding) from February 2004 until March 2016, succeeded by TransPennine Express with FirstGroup having 100% ownership
• TransPennine Express from April 2016 until May 2023, superseded by government-owned TransPennine Express

United States

• A-train, Denton County Transportation Authority commenced October 2016

Denmark and Sweden

• DSBFirst was a joint rail venture with Danish State Railways (30% shareholding) until 2013

Other websites

• Media related to FirstGroup at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• FirstGroup companies grouped at OpenCorporates