Leicester Citybus,Companies House extract company no 2000072
Leicester Citybus Limited

trading as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

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 area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Trentbarton Trentbarton (stylised in all lowercase) is a bus operator providing both local and regional services in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the Wellglade Group. History In October 19 ...

's 6% shareholding in 2023.

History

1964 AEC Renown Leicester City Transport

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 Red was a bus company that operated in the Midlands of England from 1905 until 1981. It was one of the largest English bus companies, operating over a large area between Gloucester in the south and Derbyshire in the north, and from Nort ...

to South Wigston and

Wigston Magna Wigston, or Wigston Magna, is a town in the Oadby and Wigston district of Leicestershire, England, just south of Leicester on the A5199 road, A5199. It had a population of 32,321 in 2011. Geography Wigston is south of the city of Leicester, a ...

and in 1976 to

Oadby Oadby is a town in the borough of Oadby and Wigston in Leicestershire, England. Oadby is a district centre south-east of Leicester on the A6 road (England), A6 road. Leicester Racecourse is situated on the border between Oadby and Stoneygate. ...

. In August 1979 the business of Gibson Brothers, Barlestone was purchased which included two services from

Market Bosworth Market Bosworth ( ) is a market town and civil parish in 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 of the ...

to Leicester, one via Barlestone the other via Peckleton. In 1983 Leicester Corporation Transport was rebranded as Leicester CityBus. To comply with the

Transport Act 1985 The Transport Act 1985 (c. 67) 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 1986. The act was created as a response to growing ...

, in 1986 the assets of Leicester CityBus were transferred to a separate legal entity of the same name.

Leicester City Council Leicester City Council is the local authority for the city of Leicester, in the ceremonial county of Leicestershire, England. Leicester has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1997 the council ...

put its 94% shareholding in Leicester CityBus up for sale in March 1993, which was purchased by the

GRT Group GRT Group was a bus operating company in the United Kingdom from 1989 until 1995. It was formed when First Aberdeen, Grampian Regional Transport (GRT) was privatised. It went on to purchase a number of bus companies in England and Scotland. In ...

the following November. 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 man ...

to form FirstBus in April 1995, the operation was rebranded as First Leicester.

Fleet

As of April 2025, the First Leicester fleet consists of approximately 100 buses, 68 of which are Wright GB Kite Electroliner battery electric

single-deck bus A single-decker bus or rigid 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 is essent ...

es that began entering service in May 2023; an additional 18 Streetdeck Electroliners were delivered during spring 2024. Between 2024 and 2025, 6

Wright StreetDeck The Wright StreetDeck is an integral double-decker bus manufactured by Wrightbus since 2014, originally delivered as standard with a Daimler OM934 diesel engine. Hybrid-electric, full-electric and hydrogen-powered variants have subsequently be ...

s new to

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.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, with production of the B7RLE continuing until 2018. Specifications The Volvo B7RLE is similar to its predecessor, the ...

s in a yellow livery. First Leicester also operates 5

MCV Evora The MCV Evora (stylised as ''eVoRa''; internal designation: MCV C113/C123/C133) is a single-decker bus bodywork produced by Manufacturing Commercial Vehicles (MCV) since 2018, as the successor to the MCV Evolution. The Evora is currently available ...

s new to them in 2024 on the

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in Castle Donington, England. The airport is situated between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is to the south and Lincoln, England, Lincoln northeast. It serves the maj ...

shuttle services.

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, the parent group of First Leicester, introduced a fuchsia fronted version of the latest corporate livery across their fleet. During 2019, service 18 received four 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 14 and 14a would later receive buses featuring orange ''FrequentFourteens'' branding. In 2023, a new bright green livery branded for the Leicester Buses partnership was introduced on the brand new battery electric buses.

Services

Most First Leicester bus services are operated from either Haymarket bus station or St Margaret's bus station. Services operate from the City Centre to Glenfield, New Parks, Braunstone Frith & Kirby Frith, Glenfield Hospital, Braunstone, Fosse Park, Thorpe Astley, Eyres Monsell, Saffron Lane,

Leicester Royal Infirmary The Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) is a National Health Service (England), National Health Service teaching hospital in Leicester, England. It is located to the south-west of the Leicester City Centre, city centre. It has an Emergency departm ...

, Leicester General Hospital, Goodwood, Netherhall, Thurnby Lodge,

Thurmaston Thurmaston is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Leicestershire, England, located within the Borough of Charnwood. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census, it had a population of 9,668. It is pronounced "Thurmsto ...

Rushey Mead Rushey Mead is an area, suburb, Wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward and administrative division of the city of Leicester, in the ceremonial county of Leicestershire, England. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 15,962. It co ...

, Mowmacre Hill, Beaumont Centre, Beaumont Leys, Anstey and Highfields. First Leicester also provide shuttle buses around

Aircoach

First Group subsidiary

Aircoach First Bus Ireland Limited trading as Aircoach is an Ireland-based subsidiary company of FirstGroup. It provides airport express coach services from Cork, Belfast, Derry, Southside Dublin and Dublin to Dublin Airport and from Derry to Belfast ...

launched an hourly service between Leicester (St Margaret's bus station) and

Birmingham Airport Birmingham Airport , formerly ''Birmingham International Airport'', is an international airport located east-southeast of Birmingham city centre, west-northwest of Coventry slightly north of Bickenhill village, in the Metropolitan Bor ...

using the First Leicester depot as a base for a fleet of 4

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is a light commercial vehicle (van) built by Mercedes-Benz Group AG of Stuttgart, Germany as a large van, chassis cab, minibus, and pickup truck. In the past, the Sprinter had been sold under the Mercedes-Benz, Dodge, ...

minibus A minibus, microbus, or minicoach is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the word "minibus" is us ...

es, During August 2024 it was announced that the Aircoach operations would be wound down with no new bookings being taken after Saturday 31st August and all remaining operations ceasing by 31 October 2024.

Depot

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

* {{Bus companies in the East Midlands, state=collapsed FirstGroup bus operators in England Transport in Leicestershire Bus operators in Leicestershire