First South West

First South West[2] is a bus company operating services in the English counties of Somerset and Cornwall. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.

This article is about the bus operation. It is not to be confused with South Western Railway, a rail service that is also operated by FirstGroup.

First South West
An ALX400 in The Buses of Somerset livery (left) and an Enviro400 MMC in Kernow livery at Taunton in 2020
ParentFirstGroup
HeadquartersCamborne
Service areaCornwall
Somerset
Service typeBus services
Routes82[1]
Depots6
Websitefirstkernow.co.uk, busesofsomerset.co.uk

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

History
Preserved ECW bodied Leyland Olympian in the original First Bus livery at Penzance Bus Station in April 2012
Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dennis Dart in Plymouth in August 2007
Alexander Dennis Enviro400 in Plymouth in June 2012
An example of current route branding on an Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC in Redruth in 2018

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.[3][4] 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.[5][6] 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.[7] In March 2015, First Kernow commenced operating some of Western Greyhound following its sudden closure.

Fleet

As at April 2019 the fleet consisted of 296 buses and coaches.[8]

First South West used to operate one of the older FirstGroup fleets with an average of 11.6 years, but investment in new buses has seen this figure decrease to 9.9 years.[9] New purchases were made in 2016 and 2018 for the Kernow division. These were ADL Enviro400 MMCs, ADL Enviro200 MMCs and Optare Solo SRs. Most buses are second hand from within the FirstGroup fleet, they are large fleets of Plaxton Presidents on Volvo B7TL and Dennis Trident 2 chassis, Plaxton Pointer on Dennis Dart chassis, Optare Solo's and Mercedes-Benz Citaros. [10]

Until December 2006 First South West operated the last sizeable fleet of Bristol VRT double-deck buses in the United Kingdom.[11] Some of these Bristol VRTs were preserved.

As at May 2019, the oldest buses are Dennis Trident 2/Plaxton Presidents from 1998 operating out of Bridgwater depot. A Volvo Olympian has been preserved in the fleet.[10][12]

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. Companies House extract company no 1669417 First South West Limited
  3. First to buy Truronian Archived 24 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine busandcoach.com 15 February 2008
  4. Anticipated acquisition by Firstgroup plc of Truronian Limited Archived 24 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine Office of Fair Trading 11 April 2008
  5. First agrees sale of South Devon business to Stagecoach FirstGroup 10 July 2015
  6. FirstBus agrees to sell Plymouth operations to Stagecoach Archived 21 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine Plymouth Herald 13 July 2015
  7. Cornwall Council, http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/transport-and-streets/public-transport/park-and-ride/
  8. FirstGroup Fleetlist Steve White
  9. About us First Devon & Cornwall
  10. First: Devon, Kernow, Somerset, Truronian Archived 18 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine UK Buses 1 September 2013
  11. FDC VR running day, 09/12/06 sulzerpower.com
  12. Service 300 Cornwall Explorer First South West

Media related to First Devon and Cornwall at Wikimedia Commons

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