First Bus London

First Bus London

New Routemaster on route 148 at St Thomas' Hospital in July 2025
Parent	FirstGroup
Founded	February 28, 2025; 13 months ago (2025-02-28)
Headquarters	London
Service area	Greater London
Service type	Bus operator
Hubs	North-west London West London South-west London
Depots	9
Fleet	1,007 (March 2025)[1]
Fuel type	Diesel, Hybrid and Electric
Managing directors	Colin Brown Bill Cahill
Website	www.firstbus.co.uk

First Bus London is a bus operator running services across Greater London and parts of Surrey. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup, operating buses under contract to Transport for London, and was formed with the purchase of RATP Dev Transit London from RATP Group in 2025.

FirstGroup previously operated services under contract to Transport for London, before selling its First London operations to other bus operators, namely Metroline, Go-Ahead London and Tower Transit, in 2013.^[2][3]

In December 2024, FirstGroup agreed terms to purchase RATP Dev Transit London from the RATP Group for £90 million, along with subsidiaries London Sovereign, 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 (one of which, the Westbourne Park garage, returned to First as the result of acquisition) and a fleet of 982 buses and around 3,700 employees.^[4][5] The deal was completed on 28 February 2025, with FirstGroup subsequently forming a new entity named First Bus London.^[6]

First Bus London operates out of 9 garages; Edgware, Fulwell, Harrow, Hounslow, Hounslow Heath, Shepherd's Bush, Stamford Brook, Tolworth and Westbourne Park.^[5]

Edgware garage operates routes 79, 125, 226, 288, 303, 326, 340, H12 and N5.^[7]

Edgware garage was first opened by the London General Omnibus Company 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 at a cost of £4.5 million. In 1992, plans were made to close Edgware garage as Cricklewood garage was to become a fully functioning garage with new facilities. The outdoor parking area and the bus station then became a midibus base in 1993, with a new bus wash and light maintenance facilities provided in the yard.^{[citation needed]}

Planning applications were submitted to Barnet London Borough Council by First Bus London in July 2025 for the development of a new Edgware garage on the site of The Broadwalk Centre, situated below the basement of a high-rise building as part of the Edgware Towers. Despite objections by residents and the London Fire Brigade, the latter stating the depot structure would provide inadequate protection against structural collapse in the event of a major fire at the depot,^[8][9] the plans were approved by Barnet London Borough Council in August 2025 and passed onto the Greater London Authority and the office of the Mayor of London for further review.^[10]

Harrow garage operates routes 183, 395, 398, H9, H10, H11, H14, H18, H19, SL9 and SL10.^[7]

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.^[when?] The garage has a plot of land next to it, owned by First Bus London, which is used to park most of the garage's single decker fleet as a result of the allocation of route 183 from 24 July 2015 bringing the garage to full capacity; routes 398 & H17 were transferred by London Sovereign to Park Royal in July 2015 to make additional room in the garage.

Fulwell garage operates routes 33, 65, 71, 216, 281, 290, 371, 681, K3, N33 and N65.

When new, the 11-acre (4.5 ha) site was described as one of the finest plants in the country and was the main depot of London United Tramways with 20 covered tracks. The garage is nowadays divided into two sections, one used by London United, with an entrance off Wellington Road, and the other by Transport UK London Bus with an entrance off Stanley Road.

Fulwell was the first garage in London to receive trolleybuses in 1931, and together with Isleworth was the last to operate them until 1962. The last trams operated from the depot in 1935, although some of the tram tracks were, until recently, still visible in the cobbled surface of the Stanley Road entrance. The garage has never reached its capacity, even taking in much of the work from Twickenham when it closed in 1970, and in 2001 107 buses were allocated. In 1999 the garage housed 13 London Country buses after Arriva Croydon & North Surrey shut its Leatherhead garage. The buses on route 85 were operated from the forecourt with Arriva drivers.^{[citation needed]}

Hounslow garage operates routes 110, 117, 203, 419, 695, 696, 698, H22, H37 and H98.^[7]

Hounslow garage was opened by the London General Omnibus Company in 1913 on the former site of the District Railway'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 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

Hounslow's first one-man operated double deckers were MCW Metrobuses 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 bodied Dennis Lance SLF in December 1993.^[11]

There were plans to relocate the garage away from the town centre and allow the expansion of the adjoining bus station. In 2005, Transport for London submitted a planning application for a new depot to be built on the site of the former Williams Dye Works along Hanworth Road.^[12] The application was eventually abandoned by TfL in 2009 largely due to a campaign by residents overlooking the site, who feared the new garage would cause pollution in the area and advocated for a new park to instead occupy the site.^[13]

Hounslow Heath garage operate routes 105, 116, 235 and 423.^[7]

Shepherd's Bush garage operates routes 49, 70, 72, 94, 148, C1 and N72.^[7]

Shepherd's Bush garage opened in 1906.^{[citation needed]}

Stamford Brook garage operates routes 220, 272, 440 and E3.^[7][14]

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 bus service between Heathrow Airport and the West London Air Terminal on Cromwell Road.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

In 1981 Stamford Brook took on Airbus 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, MCW Metrobuses, Leyland Olympians and Dennis Darts.^{[citation needed]}

Tolworth garage operates routes 85, 293, 406, 411, 418, 467, 613, 662, 665, K1, K2, K4 and K5.^[7]

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

Westbourne Park garage operates routes 13, 18, 23, 31, 218, 295, 452, N18, N31 and N118.^[7][15]

Westbourne Park Garage was part of the re-construction programme undertaken by the London Transport Executive in the early 1980s. As was common practice at the time, the new garage replaced two older garages – the small and inadequate Middle Row (X), and the larger former trolley bus depot at Stonebridge (SE).^{[citation needed]} The new garage, which opened in 1981 on Great Western Road, is of unusual design in that it is built beneath the elevated A40 Westway, the roof of the garage being profiled to match the concrete flyover.^[16] Originally, the garage allocation consisted of AEC Routemasters, and a small number of Daimler Fleetlines to B20 "quiet" specification for Route 18. These were supplemented in 1983 by a number of Leyland Titans for comparative trials.

In December 1988, CentreWest launched the Gold Arrow brand for routes 28 and 31 at Westbourne Park. This brand employed 16 seater Alexander bodied Mercedes-Benz 811D midibuses in an initiative by London Regional Transport to increase the frequency of the two routes by 60% at peak times.^[17]

When privatised, Westbourne Park operated two routes operated by AEC Routemasters, routes 7 and 23. These were replaced by Dennis Trident 2s in July 2004 and September 2003 respectively.^[18] In November 2005, Westbourne Park commenced operating Heritage route 9 with a fleet of restored Routemasters.

On 22 January 2006, an arson attack destroyed seven buses and damaged five others that were parked overnight at Westbourne Park.^[19]

In June 2013, Westbourne Park garage was sold to Tower Transit along with all of the buses stationed there.^[20] The garage returned to First as part of its acquisition transition from RATP Dev.

First Bus London commenced operations with a fleet of 982 buses, most of which were inherited from RATP Dev Transit London.^[5] As of March 2025, the First Bus London fleet consisted of 1,007 buses.^[1]

Media related to First Bus London at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website