Leicester Citybus,Companies House extract company no 2000072
Leicester Citybus Limited trading as First Leicester, is a bus operator providing services in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Trentbarton Trentbarton operates both local and regional bus services in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the Wellglade Group. History In October 1913, Trent Motor Traction Company was foun ...

owning the other 6%.

History

In December 1874 the Leicester Tramways Company commenced operating. In July 1901 it was taken over by Leicester Corporation Transport with 39 tramcars and 30 horse-drawn buses and began to be electrified. In July 1924 the first motor buses entered service gradually replacing the trams with the last running in November 1949.Leicester Corporation Transport 1901-1986
Peter Gould In 1972 Leicester Corporation Transit began operating services in partnership with

Midland Red Midland RedCompanies House extract company no 82681
Midland Re ...

South Wigston South Wigston is a large village to the south of Leicester, England. It is outside the city boundary, forming part of the Oadby and Wigston district of Leicestershire. The population of the ward rose slightly from 7,471 at the 2001 census to 7,4 ...

and Wigston Magna and in 1976 to

Oadby Oadby is a town in the borough of Oadby and Wigston in the county of Leicestershire, England. Oadby is a district centre south east of Leicester city centre on the A6 trunk road. Leicester Racecourse is situated on the border between Oadby ...

. In August 1979 the business of Gibson Brothers,

Barlestone Barlestone is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England, adjoining the village of Osbaston. The UK Census reported Barlestone's population as 2,471 in 2001, and 2,481 in 2011. History The vill ...

was purchased which included two services from

Market Bosworth Market Bosworth is a market town and civil parish in western Leicestershire, England. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 1,906, increasing to 2,097 at the 2011 census. It is most famously near to the site of the decisive final battle o ...

to Leicester, one via Barlestone the other via

Peckleton Peckleton is a small village and civil parish located in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. The villages of Kirkby Mallory and Stapleton also form part of the parish. Thus, according to the 2001 census, the parish ha ...

. In 1983 Leicester Corporation Transport was rebranded as Leicester CityBus. To comply with the

Transport Act 1985 The Transport Act 1985 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It introduced privatised and deregulated bus services throughout Great Britain and came into effect in October of 1986. The Act was created as a response to growing concern ...

, in 1986 the assets of Leicester CityBus were transferred to a separate legal entity. In November 1993

Leicester City Council Leicester City Council is a unitary authority responsible for local government in the city of Leicester, England. It consists of 54 councillors, representing 22 wards in the city, overseen by a directly elected mayor. It is currently control ...

sold its 94% shareholding in Leicester CityBus to

GRT Group :''This article describes the bus group, for the Grampian Regional Transport bus company and successors/predecessors, see First Aberdeen'' GRT Group was a bus operating company in the United Kingdom from 1989 until 1995. It was formed when Gr ...

. After GRT Group merged with

Badgerline 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 manag ...

to form

FirstBus FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Wellglade Group The Wellglade Group (WG), is a transport group operating bus and tram services in the English Midlands. History Wellglade was formed in 1986 when Brian King and Ian Morgan purchased Trent Buses from the National Bus Company in a managem ...

Trentbarton Trentbarton operates both local and regional bus services in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the Wellglade Group. History In October 1913, Trent Motor Traction Company was foun ...

the remaining 6%.

Fleet

As of May 2022 the fleet is made up of around 90 buses, mostly consisting of

Wright StreetLite The Wright StreetLite is a low-floor midibus introduced by Wrightbus in 2010. It was originally available in only one body style (wheel forward) before the door forward and StreetLite Max variants were introduced in 2011 and 2012 respectively. ...

s and Wright StreetDecks new to Leicester between late 2015 and early 2016. The fleet also consists of a number of

Volvo B7RLE The Volvo B7RLE is a low-entry single-deck bus chassis manufactured by Volvo. It was superseded by the Volvo B8RLE in 2013. Specifications The Volvo B7RLE is similar to its predecessor, the B10BLE. In essence the B7RLE is the front section of t ...

bodied Wright Eclipses which are branded for services 18 and 88/88A/88E alongside a mixture of

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 is a twin-axle low-floor double-decker bus that was built by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis between 2005 and 2018. It replaced the Alexander ALX400, Dennis Trident (from which the Enviro400 was d ...

s and Wright StreetDecks which are branded as ''FrequentFourteens''. During 2021

successfully applied for £19 million of funding from the Government's ZEBRA scheme. Infrastructure work at First Leicester's Abbey Lane depot to support 68 Wright GB Kite Electroliner

battery electric bus A battery electric bus is an electric bus that is driven by an electric motor and obtains energy from on-board batteries. Many trolleybuses use batteries as an auxiliary or emergency power source. In 2018, the National Renewable Energy Laborator ...

es got underway in December 2022, with the electric

single-deck bus A single-decker bus or single-decker is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term ''single-decker'' refers to a standard two-axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which i ...

es set to be introduced during early 2023.

Liveries

Leicester City Transport buses were painted in crimson relieved by cream, this was reversed in the 1960s. When rebranded Leicester CityBus, a red, white and grey livery was introduced. Upon the takeover in November 1993 by GRT Group, the fleet began to wear a version of the GRT corporate livery, with the base and relief colours associated with Leicester City municipal buses, but in the corporate GRT arrangement, with ''Leicester CityBus'' fleetnames and a spire motif. This was replaced by

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.First Midlands First South Yorkshire & Midlands is an operating unit of FirstGroup operating in the English Midlands and South Yorkshire. The unit was formed in 2008 with the merger of the management and administration of First Potteries, First Worcester and ...

the parent group of First Leicester introduced a fuchsia fronted version of the latest corporate livery across their fleet. During 2019 service 18 received 4 newer buses in a purple livery branded as 'theBraunstoneBus' with services 88/88A/88E branded as 'Saffron' referring to Saffron Lane which they serve in a yellow and crimson livery.

Services

Most services are operated from

Haymarket Bus Station Haymarket bus station is a bus station located in the Haymarket area of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is situated next to the Haymarket Metro station, by the northern end of Northumberland Street and almost adjacent to Newcastle University. History ...

. Services operate from the City Centre to Glenfield,

New Parks New Parks is residential suburb of the city of Leicester, in the Leicester district, in the ceremonial county of Leicestershire, England. It was also an electoral ward of the City of Leicester whose population at the 2011 Census was 17,128. ...

, Braunstone Frith & Kirby Frith,

Glenfield Hospital Glenfield Hospital, formally known as Glenfield General Hospital, is situated near Glenfield, on the outskirts of Leicester. It is one of England's main hospitals for coronary care and respiratory diseases. It is a tertiary referral university ...

, Braunstone, Eyres Monsell, Saffron Lane,

Leicester Royal Infirmary The Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) is a National Health Service hospital in Leicester, England. It is located to the south-west of the city centre. It has an accident and emergency department and is managed by of the University Hospitals of ...

Evington Evington is an Electoral ward and administrative division of the city of Leicester, England. It used to be a small village centred on Main Street and the Anglican church of St Denys but was close enough to Leicester to become one of the outer ...

Leicester General Hospital Leicester General Hospital (LGH) is a National Health Service hospital located in the suburb of Evington, about three miles east of Leicester City Centre, and is a part of University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. It has approximately 430 beds ...

, Goodwood, Netherhall,

Thurnby Lodge Thurnby Lodge is an estate in eastern Leicester, Leicestershire, England. Roughly, it consists of the area inside the city boundary which is north of the Uppingham Road, east of the A563 outer ringroad, and south of the Scraptoft Lane. Since t ...

Thurmaston Thurmaston is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, located within the Borough of Charnwood. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 9,668. It is situated four miles north of the city centre of Leicester and lies just o ...

Rushey Mead Rushey Mead is an area, suburb, electoral ward and administrative division of the city of Leicester, England. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 15,962. It comprises the northern Leicester suburb of Rushey Mead in its entirety, as ...

, Mowmacre Hill,

Beaumont Shopping Centre Beaumont Shopping Centre is in Beaumont Leys, on the edge of Leicester. The shopping centre is owned by British Land and managed by GVA. History The Fletcher Mall portion of the property was sold to Cervidae in April 2021. Facilities Th ...

Beaumont Leys Beaumont Leys is a suburb and electoral ward in north-western Leicester, in the Leicester district, in the ceremonial county of Leicestershire, England. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 16,480. Locally, Beaumont Leys is usual ...

, Anstey, Highfields and Birstall.

Depot

In 2007 a new depot was opened on Abbey Lane which is also the headquarters of

First Midlands First South Yorkshire & Midlands is an operating unit of FirstGroup operating in the English Midlands and South Yorkshire. The unit was formed in 2008 with the merger of the management and administration of First Potteries, First Worcester and ...

, replacing the former depot on Abbey Park Road which was once home to Leicester's tram network, where a fire in August 1999 destroyed three vehicles and parts of the former tram sheds.

References

External links

Company website
{{Wellglade Group FirstGroup bus operators in England Transport in Leicestershire Bus operators in Leicestershire