tram services in the united kingdom united states canada & ireland type public company traded as lse fgp industry transport founded april 1995 headquarters aberdeen scotland united kingdom area served united kingdom united states canada ireland key people wolfhart hauser chairman tim o toole chief executive products bus coach rail tram & yellow school bus services revenue 6 050.7 million march 2015 1 operating income 245.8 million march 2015 1 net income 85.5 million march 2015 1 number of employees 114 370 march 2015 1 website www.firstgroupplc.com firstgroup 2 is a british transport group registered and operating in the united kingdom . the company also operates transport services in ireland canada and the united states . it is listed on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 250 index . 3 contents 1 history 1.1 origins 1.2 expansion 1.3 recent years 2 operations 3 corporate branding and liveries 4 current operating companies 4.1 bus & coach 4.1.1 united kingdom 4.1.2 ireland 4.1.3 canada 4.1.4 united states 4.2 rail 4.2.1 united kingdom 5 former operating companies 5.1 bus & coach 5.1.1 germany 5.1.2 hong kong 5.1.3 united kingdom 5.2 rail 5.2.1 united kingdom 5.2.2 denmark & sweden 6 future operating companies 6.1 rail 6.1.1 united kingdom 6.1.2 united states 7 references 8 external links history edit origins edit wright eclipse gemini bodied volvo b9tl in september 2012 firstgroup originated from the deregulation of bus services in the united kingdom in 1986 whereby private companies purchased nationalised and municipal bus operators . 4 in september 1986 the somerset based services of the bristol omnibus company that were rebranded in 1985 as badgerline were purchased by a management buyout . as badgerline group it expanded through acquisition purchasing other formerly nationalised bus companies in england and wales . 5 in january 1989 grampian regional transport the bus operator in aberdeen owned by grampian regional council was privatised in a management buyout led by its then general manager moir lockhead . 6 as grt bus group it expanded through acquisition purchasing six former nationalised bus companies in england and scotland . 7 in april 1995 firstbus was formed through the merger of the badgerline and grt bus groups with fleets in england wales and scotland . aberdeen was selected as the headquarters . 8 at the time of the merger firstbus had 5 600 buses 4 000 of which came from badgerline . 9 badgerline s trevor smallwood became chairman of firstbus while grt head moir lockhead became deputy chairman and chief executive . 9 expansion edit firstbus continued the policy of growth by acquisition acquiring former council owned operations and companies formerly owned by english welsh and scottish nationalised operators . firstbus went on to acquire larger urban metropolitan operators by taking advantage of the privatisation of the pte bus operations and the privatisation of london bus services . firstbus acquired gm buses north in manchester and strathclyde buses in glasgow in 1996 mainline in south yorkshire and centrewest in london in 1997 and capital citybus in london in 1998 . 9 first great western high speed train at penzance in october 2009 the company was renamed firstgroup in december 1997 2 after the company moved into railways in february 1996 with the privatisation of british rail through a 24.5 % shareholding in great western holdings that won the great western and north western franchises and a 100 % shareholding in first great eastern that ran the great eastern franchise from january 1997 . in march 1998 firstgroup purchased the 75.5 % shares in great western holdings it did not already own and rebranded the franchises first great western and first north western . 10 11 12 in september 1998 firstgroup made its first overseas foray when new world first bus commenced operating bus services in hong kong formerly operated by china motor bus . firstgroup had a 26 % shareholding in the joint venture . 13 in may 2000 firstgroup sold its shares to joint venture partner new world development . 14 in september 1999 firstgroup purchased ryder public transport services a provider of school bus transportation in the united states . 15 in may 2000 firstgroup began operating the london tramlink concession under contract to transport for london . 16 in august 2003 firstgroup purchased gb railways which owned anglia railways and gb railfreight and held 80 % of the shares in hull trains . 17 having not been shortlisted for the greater anglia franchise this gave firstgroup another chance to bid . however it was unsuccessful and the franchise was awarded to national express from april 2004 including the services operated by first great eastern . 18 in november 2003 firstgroup purchased a 90 % shareholding in irish coach operator aircoach . 19 in february 2004 firstgroup s joint venture with keolis commenced operating the first transpennine express rail franchise firstgroup having a 55 % shareholding . 20 21 in april 2004 firstgroup commenced operating the first great western link franchise 22 and in october 2004 the first scotrail franchise . 23 in december 2004 the remainder of first north western passed to northern rail some services having already been transferred to arriva trains wales and firsttranspennine express . 24 in april 2006 firstgroup commenced operating the first capital connect franchise 25 and a renewed first great western franchise that had been expanded to include the thames trains and wessex trains franchises . 26 27 greyhound prevost coach at toronto coach terminal in april 2009 in february 2007 firstgroup agreed to buy the us based firm laidlaw an operator of inter city coaches and yellow school buses across north america for 1.9 billion us 3.7 billion . this also gave it a controlling stake in greyhound lines the largest bus operator in north america . the greyhound name and the names of canadian subsidiaries of greyhound canada were retained and all other laidlaw owned services in the united states and canada were rebranded under the first or greyhound names except for voyageur colonial and grey goose in canada . 28 in january 2009 dsbfirst firstgroup s joint venture with danish state railways commenced operating the oresundtrain rail franchise from helsing r and niv in denmark along the kystbanen line and over the resund bridge to malm v xj kalmar karlskrona and gothenburg in sweden . firstgroup had a 25 % shareholding in the danish business and 20 % in the swedish business . 29 by march 2011 this was 30 % . 30 in june 2009 firstgroup made a takeover offer for fellow transport operator national express group which was struggling with debt at the time and was struggling to hold onto its national express east coast rail franchise . this was rejected national express saying it did not consider it appropriate at the time to discuss a takeover . firstgroup believed that there was significant industrial and commercial logic for a merger but national express wished to focus on its own initiatives . 31 recent years edit in june 2010 firstgroup sold its railfreight business first gbrf to the eurotunnel group for 31 million 32 33 ending the group s involvement in rail freight transport . 34 in september 2010 former london underground managing director tim o toole already a board member since may 2009 and chief operating officer and deputy chief executive since june 2010 was announced as the successor to retiring group chief executive officer moir lockhead with effect from 31 march 2011 . 35 36 in september 2011 firstgroup s german bus operations were sold to marwyn european transport . 37 in december 2011 dsbfirst ceased operating the swedish part of the operation after difficulties encountered by danish state railways over cross subsidies . 38 39 40 in july 2012 firstgroup provided bus and coach services for the london 2012 olympic games . this involved the provision of venue shuttle and park and ride services services connecting peripheral park and ride sites on the m25 with the olympic park and ebbsfleet and a nationwide network of express coaches to the olympic park and the weymouth and portland sailing venue . the services required around 900 vehicles in total although some were sub contracted . 41 in june 2013 most of the first london bus operations were sold to go ahead london metroline and tower transit . 42 in april 2015 firstgroup was unsuccessful in bidding for the scotrail franchise which is now run by abellio scotrail . in december 2015 firstgroup was awarded the next transpennine express franchise . 43 the new franchise commenced on 1 april 2016 with a commitment to introduce new trains routes and faster journey times . 43 in february 2016 the department for transport announced that firstgroup had been shortlisted to operate the south west trains franchise . 44 the bidding process is currently underway with the winner due to be announced in early 2017 . 44 in may 2016 east coast trains was granted a 10 track access agreement to operate services on the east coast main line from 2021 . 45 in october 2016 first transit will commence operating the a train under contract to the denton county transportation authority its first rail operation in the united states . 46 47 operations edit first hull trains class 180 adelante at peterborough in march 2011 firstgroup is britain s largest bus operator running more than 20 % of all local bus services . a fleet of nearly 9 000 buses carries some 2.9 million passengers a day in more than 40 major towns and cities . firstgroup also runs passenger rail services in the uk . passenger rail franchises consist of great western railway and transpennine express . it also operates hull trains 80 % shareholding a non franchised open access passenger train service . firstgroup operates tram services on the london tramlink network carrying approximately 24 million passengers a year on behalf of transport for london . 48 in north america firstgroup has several divisions first student which runs school bus routes ; 49 first transit which holds many city and county public transport contracts ; 50 and first vehicle services which maintains vehicles for many corporations organisations and local governments including the other first divisions and greyhound lines . 51 canadian operations are provided through its first student canada subsidiary which operates school buses and fulfills public transport contracts . firstgroup owns and operates the aircoach service in dublin 52 linking dublin airport with the city centre the south side of dublin greystones and bray as well as long distance express services runs to cork and belfast . aircoach also operates car park shuttles at dublin airport . until 2009 aircoach did not carry corporate branding . buses introduced since january 2009 on aircoach carry a firstgroup logo alongside the aircoach logo . corporate branding and liveries edit marshall bodied dennis dart in bromborough in march 2007 in the original barbie livery first bus in corporate livery in bishops lydeard in 2014 firstgroup has always had a consistent brand and uses the first brand for most of its operations . firstbus began to apply a standard corporate typeface to its fleet names in the late 1990s introducing the stylised f logo depicting a road . a corporate white pink and blue livery was introduced nicknamed barbie to new buses while further bus company acquisitions continued . inherited bus fleets were initially left in their original colours with first fleet names with the intention that the barbie scheme would stand for a set service quality . later older buses received a modified barbie 2 livery . as part of its corporate branding first subsequently removed all local branding for its bus services buses simply carried the first brand although each company still operated independently . in 2012 the group began to introduce a new purple white and lilac livery to its bus fleets which also reinstated local branding . 53 in january 2014 the company