First Student UK was the brand used by

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.student transport in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The brand was originally used in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

for school transport there, and was expanded to the United Kingdom in 2000. First Student UK was a pioneer in the introduction of task-specific school buses in Britain, usually painted

school bus yellow School bus yellow is a color that was specifically formulated for use on school buses in North America in 1939. Originally officially named National School Bus Chrome, the color is now officially known in Canada and the U.S. as National Schoo ...

to distinguish them from conventional buses.

Development

First Essex bus 68000 (Q275 LBA), 12 May 2013

First West Yorkshire 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 Firs ...

successfully piloted one of the first yellow school bus schemes in the

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

and Calderdale area in 2000. In 2002, another early scheme began in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

, Wales. It was contracted to

First Cymru First Cymru is an operator of bus services in South West Wales. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup with its headquarters in Swansea. History In 1987, South Wales Transport was sold during the privatisation of the National Bus Company in a man ...

, who began to operate the scheme in June of that year. FirstGroup's chief executive

Moir Lockhead Sir Moir Lockhead OBE DHC (born 25 April 1945 in County Durham, England) is an English businessman. He was Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman of UK transport group FirstGroup. Originally a mechanical engineer, he left school (West Cornforth Sec ...

said "we believe that the yellow school bus offers the safest, most reliable way to transport children to and from school". As with other schemes, including one in

Runnymede Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Surrey, and just over west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is, with its adjoining ...

in Surrey set up around the same time, First had to open new bases to operate the school buses, having no other operations in the respective areas. The first schemes also had buses built like traditional US school buses, whereas later schemes have more conventional UK bus shapes. By October 2002, FirstGroup's first Welsh scheme had proved successful enough for the fleet of buses to be doubled. As further schemes developed, First became more involved in setting up schemes. First Berkshire, already running the Runnymede First Student service, won the contract from

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party has ...

in 2005 to operate the Ride Pegasus! school bus scheme, although using buses in a different livery. However, this ended in July 2010 following the withdrawal of funding.Surrey County Council - Access Buses
Accessed 10 May 2008 In December 2007, a yellow school bus visited Perth, Scotland, to test reactions. FirstGroup suggested that their research shows 86% of British parents would like to send their children to school in dedicated buses. To develop this system in the United Kingdom the company decided to bring in American knowledge in the form of managing director Linda Howard, who had owned and operated her own school bus company in the States before it was acquired by First. In 2008, one bus toured the country on trials. The campaigns continued. Former Home Secretary

David Blunkett David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2015, and previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough ...

supports the use of yellow school buses, and in 2008 worked with First to campaign for wider use of the school bus system.

Former operations

First Student UK took 8,000 students to and from school in the UK, every day. Fifteen school bus systems were operated, two in Scotland, two in Wales and the rest in England. In contrast to the North American division, where school busing is a primary function, First Student UK takes advantage of the existence of a First Group operating base throughout the country. ''Yellow School Bus'' schemes are run on behalf of the local authority by an existing subsidiary of First or sub-contracted to an independent operator where they do not have a presence. One of the biggest schemes, First Halifax was the largest provider of yellow school buses on behalf of

West Yorkshire Metro Metro is the passenger information brand used by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority in England. It was formed on 1 April 1974 as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (WYPTE) at the same time as the metropolitan county of West Yor ...

was also involved in a First Student school bus scheme. They ran 81 school buses every day on

My Bus Metro is the passenger information brand used by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority in England. It was formed on 1 April 1974 as the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (WYPTE) at the same time as the metropolitan county of West Yor ...

scheme. First Berkshire ran a small scheme in Runnymede. Another scheme was run on behalf of Hampshire County Council, with handful of buses operated to selected schools by First Hampshire & Dorset.

Ride Pegasus!

First Berkshire & The Thames Valley DME43926

Ride Pegasus! was a school bus scheme run by

First Berkshire & The Thames Valley First Beeline Buses, trading as First Berkshire & The Thames Valley, is a bus operator providing services in and around Slough. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History In January 1986 Alder Valley North Limited, later renamed, The Berks ...

under contract to Surrey Country Council. The scheme, which required 22 buses,Anger at primary school bus cuts
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'' 4 November 2009 served 14 primary schools in the Guildford area and carried 850 children each day for a cost of £900,000 per year.Council agrees to end Ride Pegasus school buses
'' Get Surrey'' Some non-school "Access Bus" services, primarily for senior citizens, were also run, as was the Guildford

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 ...

route 300 to

Merrow Merrow (from Irish ', Middle Irish ' or ') is a mermaid or merman in Irish folklore. The term is of Hiberno-English origin. The merrows supposedly require a magical cap ( ga, cochaillín draíochta; Hiberno-English: cohuleen druith) in order ...

.Park-and-ride fares set to rise across Guildford
''Get Surrey'' Buses were run from the council depot in Merrow Lane, which was treated as an outstation to one of First Berkshire's main depots. Ride Pegasus stopped running on 23 July 2010, at the end of the 2010 school year, due to the withdrawal of financing by the council. The intention to start a school bus operation in Surrey was first announced by Surrey County Council in 2002, and was initially named Project Pegasus. In April 2005 the Department of Transport branded the plan, now known as the Pegasus School Bus Project, "low value for money" and decided not to fund a pilot scheme. However, by January 2006 funding had been arranged for a pilot scheme to begin at Tillingbourne School in Chilworth, with an official launch on 17 March 2006. Over the following five years it was expanded to cover 14 schools in the area, although it continued to be only a pilot with a projected end date of December 2010. In September 2009 Surrey County Council announced a decision to cease funding the program from July 2010, citing the cost of £900,000 per year as too expensive for a system which benefited only 1% of Surrey schoolchildren. A petition against the decision received 1,500 signatures in 11 days. The decision was reviewed in November 2009 with a view to extending the service to operate until July 2011, but despite criticism was not overturned. The park and ride contract also ended in July 2010; it was initially due to finish in December 2010, but was brought forward to coincide with the end of the school bus operation. The 22 buses used on the service returned to owners Surrey County Council at the end of the scheme. All were

East Lancs Myllennium The East Lancs Myllennium was a type of single-decker bus body manufactured by East Lancashire Coachbuilders on DAF SB220, Dennis Dart SLF, MAN 14.220 and Scania OmniTown chassis. It was designed in 1999 as a bus for Millennium Dome routes M ...

bodied

Dennis Dart SLF 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 se ...

s. They were loaned to other operators; three to

Safeguard Coaches Safeguard Coaches is a bus and coach operator based in Guildford. History Safeguard was established in 1924 by Arthur Newman, when he converted an accident damaged lorry to carry passengers, and by 1927 was running bus services to the newly con ...

for continued use on the Guildford park and ride, one to

Arriva Guildford & West Surrey Arriva Guildford & West Surrey was a bus operator based in Guildford, England. It was a subsidiary of Arriva. The company operated services in West Sussex and Surrey, as part of the Arriva Southern Counties division. Services that were run wer ...

and 14 to

Abellio Surrey Abellio London is a bus company operating services in Greater London. A subsidiary of Abellio, it operates services under contract to Transport for London (TfL). Until September 2018, services were operated in Surrey under the Abellio Surr ...

, the latter two as part of Surrey County Council's Bus Review. The final four were loaned to Southdown PSV.

Stagecoach South Stagecoach South is a bus operator providing services in South East England. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach. It operates services in Hampshire, Surrey, and Sussex with some routes extending into Brighton and Wiltshire. It operates 487 buses fr ...

now operates all of the town's Park & Ride network; two of the buses used are ex-Pegasus.

Vehicles

Seventy-one BMC 1100FEs were purchased.BMC 1100FE
Bus Lists in the Web

References

External links

BBC News - Yellow buses fleet set to double
{{DEFAULTSORT:First Student Uk FirstGroup bus operators in England School bus operators Transport companies established in 2000 2000 establishments in the United Kingdom