First London

**First London** was a bus company operating services in Greater London, England. It was a subsidiary of FirstGroup and operated buses under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in the late 1990s through the acquisition of three London bus operators. First London's garages were sold off between December 2007 and July 2013 with the last closing in September 2013.

## Company history

In December 2007 the company's Orpington business, which had been established by CentreWest in 1995, was sold to Metrobus, along with 35 buses.
In March 2012, Northumberland Park garage was sold to London General.

In June 2013, FirstGroup sold Alperton, Greenford, Hayes, Uxbridge and Willesden Junction garages with 494 buses to Metroline and Atlas Road (Park Royal), Lea Interchange (Leyton) and Westbourne Park garages with 412 buses to Tower Transit.

First London ceased operating on 27 September 2013 after its remaining contracts with Transport for London expired.

### Dagenham (DM)

Dagenham garage operated London bus routes 165, 179 and 252, and 24-hour route 365 until 27 September 2013 when their contracts expired. They all passed to Stagecoach London.

#### History

Previously operated a garage in Harold Wood which closed in 2004, and was an outstation of Dagenham.

On 26 March 2011, First Capital commenced operating route 368.

On 3 September 2011, First Capital commenced operating routes 608 and 648.

On 10 March 2012, First Capital commenced operating route 667.

On 30 March 2012, the Northumberland Park allocation for route 58 was transferred.

On 22 June 2013, routes 193, 368, 498 plus school routes 608, 646, 648, 652, 656, 667, 679 and 686 passed to Blue Triangle.

On 17 August 2013 Essex route 265 passed to Amber Coaches.

## First Capital North Limited

Operated one bus garage, sold to Tower Transit on 22 June 2013.

### Lea Interchange (LI)

Lea Interchange garage in Leyton operated London bus routes 26, 30, 58, 236, 308, 339, RV1, W14, W15, 24-hour routes 25, night route N26 and school route 686.

#### History

The garage opened in 2007 to replace the Waterden Road, Stratford garage that closed as part of the development of the Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Waterden Road was opened in 1996 after a number tender wins. In 2004 the garage received Mercedes-Benz Citaro Hydrogen buses for evaluation on route 25 and subsequently on route RV1.

On 25 June 2011, First Capital commenced operating routes 25, 26, 30 and N26. On 17 September 2011 routes D6, D7 and D8 passed to Docklands Buses.

On 25 February 2012, First Capital commenced operating route W14 and on 3 March 2012 route W15.

On 3 March 2012, route 309 passed to CT Plus and W11 to Arriva London.

## CentreWest London Buses Limited

Operated seven bus garages. In June 2013 Alperton, Greenford, Hayes, Uxbridge and Willesden Junction were sold to Metroline and Atlas Road and Westbourne Park to Tower Transit.

### Atlas Road (AS)

Atlas Road garage in Park Royal operated London bus routes 28, 31, 328, 24-hour route 266 and night routes N28 and N31.

#### History

On 1 October 2011 this depot opened when part of Westbourne Park depot was closed to make way for Crossrail construction with operation of routes 28, 31, 328, N28 and N31 transferred. Atlas Road operated as an outstation for Westbourne Park, so buses were seen on Atlas Road routes and vice versa.

On 19 May 2012, First London commenced operating route 266.

### Greenford (G)

Greenford garage operated London bus routes 92, 95, 282, E1, E3, E5, E7, E9 and E10.

#### History

Greenford bus depot is part of a local council depot and was first used in 1993 as a midibus base. The opening of Greenford garage led to the closure of Hanwell, and in 1995 the garage was operating 110 midibuses. The standard fare of vehicles in the late 1990s were Renault/Wrightbus midibuses, and Marshall minibuses but both types had a bad reputation and did not last long. In recent years the allocation has been much diverse, ranging from Marshall bodied Dennis Darts to Dennis Trident / Plaxton vehicles.

On 25 May 2002, route E6 passed to Wings.

From late 2003 until 14 March 2009 Ealing Community Transport operated route 195 from the Greenford depot using garage code EY.

On 14 March 2009, First London commenced operating route 195.

On 13 November 2010, route 92 was transferred to this garage. On 2 July 2011, route 105 passed to Metroline.

### Hayes (HS)

Hayes garage operated London bus route 195, 207, 427 and night route N207.

On 13 November 2010, route 195 was transferred to this garage.

### Alperton (ON)

Alperton garage operated London bus routes 223, 224, 245, 487 and 24-hour route 83.

#### History

In November 2001, First CentreWest commenced operating 79. This route passed to Metroline. On 28 April 2012, route 487 was transferred to this garage.

### Uxbridge (UX)

Uxbridge garage operated London bus routes 331, 607, A10, U1, U2, U3, U4, U5 and U10.

### Westbourne Park (X)

Westbourne Park garage operated London bus routes 9 (Heritage), 70 and 24-hour routes 23 and 295.

#### History

When privatised Westbourne Park operated two routes operated by AEC Routemasters, 7 and 23. These were replaced by Dennis Tridents in July 2004 and September 2003 respectively. In November 2005 Westbourne Park commenced operating 9 Heritage with Routemasters.

In June 2000, route 70 passed to Thorpes.

In October 2000, First CentreWest commenced operating route 295.

In November 2000, First CentreWest commenced operating route 27. This passed to London United in November 2005.

In November 2004, First London commenced operating route 414. This passed to Abellio London in November 2009.

In February 2003, First CentreWest commenced operating route 10. This passed to London United in January 2010.

In 2006, an arson attack destroyed around ten buses. In June 2007 routes 7 and N7 passed to Metroline.

On 23 June 2012, First London commenced operating route 70.

### Willesden Junction (WJ)

Willesden Junction garage operated London bus routes 18, 187, 206, 226, 228 and night route N18.

#### History

On 13 November 2010, N18 was transferred to this garage.

On 28 April 2012, First London commenced operating route 206.