First South West is a bus company operating services in the English counties of

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

and

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. It is a subsidiary of

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Kernow, Truronian, Adventures by Bus and Buses of Somerset brands.

History

First South West was known as 'First Devon & Cornwall' until 2015. This had been formed from two previous

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Western National Western National was a bus company operating in South West England from 1929 until the 1990s. Early history Western National Omnibus Company was founded in 1929 as a joint venture between the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the National Om ...

in Cornwall and south Devon, and Red Bus in north Devon. FirstGroup purchased independent Cornish operator Truronian in April 2008 and merged it into First Devon & Cornwall. First Somerset & Avon routes around

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

and Bridgwater were transferred to First Devon & Cornwall in 2014 and rebranded as

The Buses of Somerset The Buses of Somerset is the trading name used by bus operator First South West for services operated in Somerset from depots in the towns of Taunton and Bridgwater since 2014. The services were formerly managed as part of First Somerset & Avon ...

. On 6 September 2015, the Plymouth, Dartmouth and

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13 ...

garages were taken over by Stagecoach South West. Torpoint depot is being used to store the unused members of the fleet. At the same time, First Devon & Cornwall changed their name to First South West to reflect their new area of operation which is only in Cornwall and south Somerset. In January 2020,

Cornwall Council Cornwall Council ( kw, Konsel Kernow) is the unitary authority for Cornwall in the United Kingdom, not including the Isles of Scilly, which has its own unitary council. The council, and its predecessor Cornwall County Council, has a tradition ...

awarded the entire tendered bus network within the county to

Plymouth Citybus Plymouth CitybusCompanies House extract company no 2004966

, consisting of 73 routes. Kernow continues to operate their entire commercial network across Cornwall, including Tinner, University, Lizard and Coaster branded routes, as well as the 24, 27, 87 and 91. Commencing from May 2021, First South West launched a number of services under the 'Adventures by Bus' brand across Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. These services are operated commercially and include a number of services that were previously operated by Kernow under different circumstances.

Routes

First South West routes cover much of Cornwall. It operates the

Park & Ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rap ...

service in

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

. In March 2015, First Kernow commenced operating some of Western Greyhound following its sudden closure. Many routes are operated commercially and not under any tender or subsidy by the local council. Many of these fall within Cornwall, yet many other services are also operated commercially rather than under tenders such as the Adventures By Bus routes. First South West operate the Taunton Park & Ride service under Buses of Somerset using

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. ...

vehicles in a two-tone orange and purple livery. This service is contracted under Taunton Council.

Adventures by Bus

In May 2021, the 'Adventures by Bus' brand commenced operations across First South West's service area, with operations shared between the existing Kernow and Buses of Somerset divisions. The brand includes many seasonally operated routes. These include; The Dartmoor Explorer, Lands End Coaster, Falmouth Coaster, Atlantic Coaster, Exmoor Coaster, Lizard, Exeter Tour and Daytripper services. Many of these services operate using open-top vehicles across the summer season. The Atlantic Coaster, Lands End Coaster and The Lizard services operate on routes previously operated by Kernow. Adventures by Bus services operate out of multiple depots and outstations across the service area, all of which are owned and operated by either Kernow or Buses of Somerset. Adventures by Bus brought First services back to

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

for the first time since September 2015.

Fleet

Redruth Station Hill - First 33463 (WK66CDF)

As at April 2019 the fleet consisted of 296 buses and coaches. First South West used to operate one of the older

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.ADL Enviro400 MMCs, ADL Enviro200 MMCs and

Optare Solo The Optare Solo is a low-floor minibus/midibus with one or two doors manufactured by Optare in the United Kingdom since 1998. The Solo name is a play on its low-floor status, the manufacturer marketing its vehicle as having an entrance that is ...

SRs. Most buses are second hand from within the

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Plaxton President The Plaxton President was a low floor double-decker bus body built at Northern Counties plant in Wigan, England and branded as a Plaxton product for its main production run. It was first unveiled in 1997 on the longitudinal Volvo B7L chas ...

s on Volvo B7TL and

Dennis Trident 2 The Dennis Trident 2 is a 2-axle low-floor double-decker bus chassis originally manufactured by Dennis, which was unveiled in 1997 and replaced the Dennis Arrow. It was built by TransBus after Dennis was incorporated into the group in 2001, t ...

chassis, Plaxton Pointer on

Dennis Dart The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles of Guildford, England in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a high-floor design, In 1996 the low-floor seco ...

chassis, Optare Solo's and

Mercedes-Benz Citaro The Mercedes-Benz Citaro is a single-decker, rigid or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz/ EvoBus. Introduced in 1997, the Citaro is available in a range of configurations, and is in widespread use throughout Europe and parts of Asia ...

s.First: Devon, Kernow, Somerset, Truronian
UK Buses 1 September 2013 Until December 2006 First South West operated the last sizeable fleet of Bristol VRT double-deck buses in the United Kingdom. Some of these Bristol VRTs were preserved. As at May 2019, the oldest buses are Dennis Trident 2/Plaxton Presidents from 1998 operating out of Bridgwater depot. A

Volvo Olympian The Volvo Olympian was a rear-engined 2-axle and 3-axle double decker bus chassis manufactured by Volvo at its Irvine, Scotland factory. The first was built in 1992 and entered production in March 1993, replacing the Leyland Olympian. History ...

has been preserved in the fleet.Service 300 Cornwall Explorer
First South West

Depots

* Bridgwater * Camborne * Newquay * Penzance *

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somerset's southern border with ...

Outstations

* Eden Project * Falmouth *

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map she ...

* Minehead *

Padstow Padstow (; kw, Lannwedhenek) is a town, civil parish and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England. The town is situated on the west bank of the River Camel estuary approximately northwest of Wadebridge, northwest of Bodmin and ...

* Lee Moor (near Plymouth) *

Callington, Cornwall Callington ( kw, Kelliwik) is a civil parish and town in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom about north of Saltash and south of Launceston. Callington parish had a population of 4,783 in 2001, according to the 2001 census. This had ...

References

External links

First Kernow website (Cornwall buses)Buses of Somerset website (Somerset buses)
{{DEFAULTSORT:First in Devon and Cornwall FirstGroup bus operators in England Bus operators in Cornwall Bus operators in Somerset Transport in Cornwall Transport in Somerset