IN THE PINK: FIRST FOCUSES IN THE MIDLANDS

摘要

To understand how many changes First's UK bus operations have been through in the past five years, look no father than its Midlands business. Run for a time as part of a sprawling region stretched out from Hereford to Southend, this mix of former National Bus Company and municipal undertakings is managed more locally again, but has shrunk from over 500 vehicles and eight depots to 322 operating out of three depots in separate urban pockets. In old bus industry terms, this was Midland Red West and Potteries from NBC, Leicester Citybus and Northampton Transport from the municipal sector. When First was formed in 1995, Midland Red West and Potteries (then trading as PMT) were former management buyouts in Badgerline ownership, while Leicester and Northampton had been GRT Bus Group's first acquisitions in England a couple of years earlier.