First Bus London is a bus operator running services across

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is a subsidiary of

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

, and was formed with the purchase of RATP Dev Transit London from

RATP Group The RATP Group () is a French state-owned enterprise (Établissement public à caractère industriel et commercial, EPIC) that operates public transport systems primarily in Paris, France. Headquartered in Paris, it originally operated under th ...

in 2025.

History

, before selling its

First London First London was a bus company operating services in east, west and south-east Greater London, London, England. It was a subsidiary of FirstGroup and operated buses under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in the late 1990s throug ...

operations to other bus operators namely

Metroline Metroline is a bus operator operating primarily in Greater London and partially in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro and operates bus services for London Buses under contract to Transport for Lon ...

Go-Ahead London Go-Ahead London is a major bus operator in Greater London. The name first appeared in August 2008, before which the company had traded under separate names and brands. It is currently (as of April 2025) the largest bus operator in Greater Londo ...

and

Tower Transit Tower Transit Operations Limited, which traded as Tower Transit, is a bus company who operated in East and West London. They are a subsidiary of the Kelsian Group and operated services under contract to Transport for London. Currently they op ...

in 2013.

In December 2024, FirstGroup agreed terms to purchase RATP Dev Transit London from the

for £90 million, along with subsidaries

London Sovereign London Sovereign is a bus operator brand under London Sovereign Limited, trading as First Bus, which operates bus services in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of First Bus London and operates bus services under contract to Transport for London ...

, London Transit and London United, giving the FirstGroup a 12% market share of London's tendered bus services, ten garages across Central and West London, including one of which is the Westbourne Park garage, returned to First as the result of acquisition, with a fleet of 982 buses and around 3,700 employees. The deal was completed on 28 February 2025, with FirstGroup subsequently forming a new entity named First Bus London.

Fleet

First Bus London commenced operations with a fleet of 982 buses. Most of them were inherited from RATP Dev Transit London.

Garages

First Bus London operates out of 10 garages;

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northwest London. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex east of the ancient Watling Street in what is now the London Borough of Barnet but it is now informally considered to cover a wider area, inc ...

, Fulwell, Harrow,

Hounslow Hounslow ( ) is a large suburban district of West London, England, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 14 metropolitan cen ...

Hounslow Heath Hounslow Heath is a local nature reserve in the London Borough of Hounslow and at a point borders London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames. The public open space, which covers , is all that remains of the historic Hounslow He ...

Park Royal Park Royal is an area in North West London, England, divided between the London Borough of Ealing and the London Borough of Brent. It is the site of the largest business park in London, but despite intensive existing use, the area is, togethe ...

, Parr Road,

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, its ...

Stamford Brook Stamford Brook was a tributary of the Tideway stretch of the River Thames in west London supplied by three headwaters. Historically used as an irrigation ditch or dyke, the network of small watercourses had four lower courses and mouths. Hist ...

Tolworth Tolworth is a suburban area in the Surbiton district, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Greater London. It is southwest of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Berrylands, Chessington, Epsom, Ewell, Kingston upon Thames, Kingston, Lo ...

and Westbourne Park.

London Sovereign

Edgware (BT)

As of May 2025, Edgware garage operates routes 79,

125 125 may refer to: *125 (number), a natural number *AD 125, a year in the 2nd century AD *125 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC *125 (dinghy), a two person intermediate sailing dinghy *125 (New Jersey bus), a New Jersey Transit bus route *125 Liberatr ...

226 Year 226 ( CCXXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Marcellus (or, less frequently, year 979 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 226 for this ...

, 326, 340, H12 and N5. Some buses are regularly shared with Parr Road garage.

=History

= Edgware garage was first opened by the

London General Omnibus Company The London General Omnibus Company or LGOC, was the principal bus operator in London between 1855 and 1933. It was also, for a short period between 1909 and 1912, a motor bus manufacturer. Overview The London General Omnibus Company was f ...

in 1925 with space for 24 buses, but there was plenty of room adjacent to the Underground station which had recently been built. In 1939 a new building was built next to the original building which was to become the new bus station, while the remaining open parking area was used to store vehicles for the trolleybus replacement program. In 1984 a new 100 bus garage was built on the site of the long closed

Edgware railway station Edgware was a London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) station located on Station Road in Edgware, north London. It was opened in 1867 and was in use as a passenger station until 1939, then as a goods yard until 1964. It is not to be confused w ...

at a cost of £4.5 million. In 1992 plans were made to close Edgware garage as

Cricklewood Cricklewood is a town in North London, England, in the London Boroughs of Camden, Barnet, and Brent. The Crown pub, now the Clayton Crown Hotel, is a local landmark and lies north-west of Charing Cross. Cricklewood was a small rural hamlet ...

garage was to become a fully functioning garage with new facilities. The outdoor parking area and the bus station then became a

midibus A midibus is a classification of single-decker minibuses which are generally larger than a traditional minibus but smaller than a full-size single decker and can be anywhere between and long. While used in many parts of the world, the mi ...

base in 1993, with a new bus wash and light maintenance facilities provided in the yard.

Harrow (SO)

As of May 2025, Harrow garage operates routes

183 Year 183 ( CLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Rome as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Victorinus (or, less frequently, year 936 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...

, 395,

398 __NOTOC__ Year 398 ( CCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Eutychianus (or, less frequently, year 1151 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomin ...

, H9, H10, H18, H19, SL9 and SL10.

=History

= Harrow garage opened in 1994. It is First Bus London's smallest London garage holding just 42 buses. The low roof beam across the middle of the depot building was raised to allow double deckers. The garage has a plot of land next to it, owned by London Sovereign, which is now used to park most of the single deckers due to the 183 allocation, which started on 24 July 2015. Route 183 is now fully allocated to Harrow, with routes 398 & H17 transferred to Park Royal (RP) to make room. As of 7 September 2019, route H13 has moved to Uxbridge garage, which is owned by Metroline. In 2020, London Sovereign started operating routes 398 and H17. In December 2021, RATP Dev started operating their first electric buses for routes H9 and H10. More electric buses were introduced into routes 183, 398 and X140 (now SL9).

Parr Road (CP)

As of May 2025, Parr Road garage operates routes

288 Year 288 ( CCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Maximian and Ianuarianus (or, less frequently, year 1041 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination ...

303 __NOTOC__ Year 303 ( CCCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. It was known in the Roman Empire as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and Maximian (or, less frequently, year 1056 ''Ab urbe condita''). The deno ...

, H11 and H14. Buses are regularly shared with Edgware garage.

London United

Hounslow (AV)

As of May 2025, Hounslow garage operates routes 110, 117, 203, 419, 696, 697, 698, H22, H37 and H98.

=History

= Hounslow garage was opened by the

in 1913 on the former site of the

District Railway The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London, England, from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the ...

's Hounslow Town station. The garage along with many others was requisitioned in the First World War. Hounslow was the subject of two firsts in 1925 and 1930 with the first

pneumatic tyre A tire (North American English) or tyre (Commonwealth English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over w ...

buses and the original Dennis Dart allocated respectively. The garage had one problem though: the roof was too low and only open toppers and single deck vehicles could use the depot until the mid-1930s when the roof was raised. A London Transport survey in 1947 found that 92 vehicles were allocated to Hounslow, a garage with a capacity of 72. This was mainly achieved by parking buses on a plot of land behind the garage that was also used to stand vehicles terminating there on layover. The garage was rebuilt in the early 1950s and included a new bus station in front of the garage. The planned allocation was now up to 120 vehicles, although the allocation in 2002 was 127. Hounslow's first one-man operated double deckers were

MCW Metrobus The MCW Metrobus is a two and three-axle double-decker bus manufactured by Metro Cammell Weymann (MCW) between 1977 and 1989. The Metrobus was conceived as a semi-integral product manufactured completely by MCW in both MkI and MkII variants, but ...

es delivered in 1982 for routes 111 and 202. With the allocation still high, Hounslow runs a number of night services on behalf of other First Bus London garages to enable it to fit the buses into the garage. It was also the first garage in London to operate a low-floor bus with the arrival of

Wright Pathfinder The Wright Pathfinder was a low entry and low floor single-decker bus body built on Dennis Lance SLF and Scania N113CRL chassis by Wrightbus between 1993 and 1995. History Of the 95 Pathfinders produced, London Regional Transport subsid ...

bodied Dennis Lance SLF in December 1993.LLW1-10: London United
countrybus.org There were plans to relocate the garage away from the town centre, and allow the expansion of the adjoining bus station. In 2005 an unsuccessful planning application for a site in Hanworth Road was lodged. This was largely due to a campaign by residents overlooking the site.

Hounslow Heath (WK)

As of May 2025, Hounslow Heath garage operate routes

105 105 may refer to: *105 (number), the number * AD 105, a year in the 2nd century AD * 105 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 105 (telephone number), the emergency telephone number in Mongolia * 105 (MBTA bus), a Massachusetts Bay Transport Authority ...

, 116,

235 __NOTOC__ Year 235 ( CCXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Quintianus (or, less frequently, year 988 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 2 ...

423 __NOTOC__ Year 423 ( CDXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Rome as the Year of the Consulship of Marinianus and Asclepiodotus (or, less frequently, year 1176 ''Ab urbe condita''). ...

and non-TfL routes KU1, KU2 and KU3.

Park Royal (RP)

As of May 2025, Park Royal garage operates routes 18,

220 __NOTOC__ Year 220 (Roman numerals, CCXX) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Antonius and Eutychianus (or, less frequently, year 973 ''Ab urbe condita''). The ...

, 224 and N18.

=History

= Park Royal was opened by NCP Challenger on 26 May 2007, on the site of the former

garage (HR) in Atlas Road,

, which had closed in 2005.

Shepherd's Bush (S)

As of May 2025, Shepherd's Bush garage operates routes 49, 70, 72, 94, 148, C1 and N72.

=History

= Shepherd's Bush garage opened in 1906.

Stamford Brook (V)

As of May 2025, Stamford Brook garage operates routes

218 Year 218 ( CCXVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Adventus (or, less frequently, year 971 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 218 for th ...

, 272,

283 Year 283 ( CCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Carus and Carinus (or, less frequently, year 1036 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 283 for this y ...

440 Year 440 (Roman numerals, CDXL) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valentinian III, Valentinianus and Anatolius (consul), Anatolius (or, less frequently, year ...

and E3.

=History

= Stamford Brook opened as a bus garage in 1980 after a two-year construction. Originally built as Chiswick Tram depot, it had latterly been used to operate the

British European Airways British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The ...

bus service between

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

and the West London Air Terminal on

Cromwell Road Cromwell Road is a major London road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, designated as part of the A4 road (Great Britain), A4. It was created in the 19th century and is said to be named after Richard Cromwell, son of Oliver Cromwel ...

. The original plan was to create a temporary home for the Riverside garage buses and staff whilst that garage was re-built with a view to taking on the workload from Mortlake and Turnham Green which were to close. However this idea was changed and the garage took on the work from Turnham Green which closed and also inherited the garage code V. Following service reductions, Mortlake and Riverside closed in 1983, with some of their work moving to Stamford Brook. In 1981 Stamford Brook took on ''

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

'' routes A1 and A2 following the withdrawal of the existing British Airways services between Heathrow Airport and central London. These vehicles were transferred in 1994 to West Ramp (which became an outstation of V) leaving the garage with an allocation of MCW Metroriders,

es,

Leyland Olympian The Leyland Olympian is a 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus chassis that was manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production. Construction The Olympian had the same chassis and running gear ...

s and

Dennis Dart The Dennis Dart is a Rear-engine design, rear-engined single-decker bus, single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles, Dennis of Guildford, England, in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a ...

Tolworth (TV)

As of May 2025, Tolworth garage operates routes 85, 293, 406, 411,

418 __NOTOC__ Year 418 (Roman numerals, CDXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius (emperor), Honorius and Theodosius II, Theodosius (or, less frequent ...

467 __NOTOC__ Year 467 (Roman numerals, CDLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pusaeus and Iohannes (consul 467), Iohannes (or, less frequently, year 1220 '' ...

, 613,

655 __NOTOC__ Year 655 ( DCLV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 655 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe ...

662 Year 662 (Roman numerals, DCLXII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 662 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in ...

, 665, K1, K2, K4 and K5.

=History

= Tolworth was built on the site of a former coal yard behind Tolworth railway station. Tolworth was originally planned in the late 1990s following the closure of Kingston Garage and the announcement that the site was to be part sold off and part converted into the new bus station. A recruitment centre was opened on Tolworth Broadway long before building work ever started. Route K5 transferred to Tolworth from Quality Line on 25 January 2020. Routes 406, 418 and 465 transferred to Tolworth from Quality Line on 25 April 2020.

London Transit

Westbourne Park (X)

As of May 2025, Westbourne Park garage operated routes 13, 23, 295 and 452. This garage returned to First as part of its acquisition transition from

RATP Dev The RATP Group () is a French state-owned enterprise (Établissement public à caractère industriel et commercial, EPIC) that operates public transport systems primarily in Paris, France. Headquartered in Paris, it originally operated under th ...

References

External links

* {{Transport in London FirstGroup bus operators in England London bus operators Transport companies established in 2025 2025 establishments in England