First South West

First South West

Alexander RH bodied Volvo B10M-50 open top buses at Penzance in May 2010
Parent FirstGroup
Headquarters Camborne
Service area Cornwall
Somerset
Service type Bus services
Routes 82[1]
Depots 6
Fleet 419 (September 2015)[2]
Website firstkernow.co.uk, busesofsomerset.co.uk

First South West[3] is a bus company operating services in the English counties of Somerset and Cornwall. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.

First South West includes the First Kernow, Buses of Somerset and Buses of Taunton brands.

History

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 in Plymouth in June 2012
Plaxton Pointer II bodied Dennis Dart in Plymouth in August 2007
Preserved ECW bodied Leyland Olympian in the old livery at Penzance Bus Station in April 2012

First South West was known as 'First Devon & Cornwall' until 2015. This had been formed from two previous FirstGroup companies: Western National 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.[4][5] First Somerset & Avon routes around Taunton and Bridgwater were transferred to First Devon & Cornwall in 2014 and rebranded as The Buses of Somerset.

On 6 September 2015, the Plymouth, Dartmouth and Tavistock garages were taken over by Stagecoach South West.[6][7] 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.

Routes

First South West routes cover much of Cornwall. It operates the Park & Ride service in Truro.[8] In March 2015, First Kernow commenced operating some of Western Greyhound following its sudden closure.

Fleet

As at March 2013 the fleet consisted of 240 buses and coaches.[9]

First South West operate one of the older FirstGroup fleets with an average of 11.6 years.[10] New purchases are rare with most buses transferred from other group fleets.[11]

Until December 2006 First South West operated the last sizeable fleet of Bristol VRT double-deck buses in the United Kingdom.[12] Some of these Bristol VRTs were preserved.

As at September 2013 the oldest buses in the fleet were seven 1987 Alexander RH bodied Volvo B10M-50s that have been converted to open top buses for services between Penzance, Lands End and St Ives.[11][13]

Depots

Outstations

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/devon_cornwall/journey_planning/timetables/index.php?operator=6&page=1&redirect=no
  2. ↑ http://www.ukbuses.co.uk/fleet/fdc.pdf
  3. ↑ Companies House extract company no 1669417 First South West Limited
  4. ↑ First to buy Truronian busandcoach.com 15 February 2008
  5. ↑ Anticipated acquisition by Firstgroup plc of Truronian Limited Office of Fair Trading 11 April 2008
  6. ↑ First agrees sale of South Devon business to Stagecoach FirstGroup 10 July 2015
  7. ↑ FirstBus agrees to sell Plymouth operations to Stagecoach Plymouth Herald 13 July 2015
  8. ↑ Cornwall Council, http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/transport-and-streets/public-transport/park-and-ride/
  9. ↑ FirstGroup Fleetlist Steve White
  10. ↑ About us First Devon & Cornwall
  11. 1 2 First: Devon, Kernow, Somerset, Truronian UK Buses 1 September 2013
  12. ↑ FDC VR running day, 09/12/06 sulzerpower.com
  13. ↑ Service 300 Cornwall Explorer First South West

Media related to First Devon and Cornwall at Wikimedia Commons

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