First Aberdeen
- Grampian Regional Transport and Aberdeen Corporation Transport redirect here.
 | |
 A First Aberdeen Volvo B10BLE, Wright Renown, Y635 RSA, on route 15 going to Beach Retail Park on Salmon Line located at Union Street. | |
| Parent | FirstGroup |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1998 |
| Headquarters | 395 King Street, Aberdeen |
| Locale | Aberdeen |
| Service type | bus |
| Routes | 24 |
| Website | First Aberdeen |
First Aberdeen Ltd is the main bus company serving Aberdeen, Scotland and is part of FirstGroup. It was renamed First Aberdeen Ltd in 1998, having previously operated buses in Aberdeen as Aberdeen Corporation, Grampian Regional Transport and First Grampian.
History
Aberdeen Corporation
Aberdeen Corporation Tramways was formed in 1898. The company became Aberdeen Corporation Transport Department when it became solely a bus operator as trams ceased on May 3rd 1958.
Grampian Regional Transport
Under local government reorganisation in 1975, the Aberdeen Corporation bus operations transferred to Grampian Regional Transport, a department of the Grampian Regional authority.
As part of the bus deregulation process in the UK, GRT was incorporated as Grampian Regional Transport Ltd in 1986, owned and operated by the council as an arms length company.
On 20 January 1989 the company was privatised, bought by its employees under an Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP)[1]. At the time GRT comprised a fleet of 200 buses and 500 employees[2].
Unlike future similar sales in the UK, the sale of GRT was done voluntarily by the council which had no overall majority party and had no deep rooted objection to the sale. At the time, councils could negotiate privately with single buyers, rather than the later practice of competitive bidding. It was a sale of a going concern, rather than as seen in other areas in later years, a distress sale, or a forced sale for political reasons[3].
First Grampian
While the company continued to operate as GRT in Aberdeen, its holding company GRT Group went on to acquire other bus companies, eventually becoming FirstBus plc in 1995. At the same time, GRT adopted the First Grampian branded subsidiary of FirstBus, while legally remaining GRT ltd. In a further re-organisation of FirstBus into FirstGroup, First Grampian became First Aberdeen Ltd in 1998.
Liveries
Aberdeen Corporation employed a dark green and white livery[4], later becoming pea-green and cream[5][6]
Council owned GRT changed this livery, by removing the upper green band, replacing it with a thinner orange band, and 'Grampian' fleetnames and a council crest[7][8]. On being sold to its employees, GRT used a scheme of a larger area of cream base colour, supplemented by a two-tone green stripe pattern. The fleet name was still 'Grampian', but with a thistle emblem over the 'i'[9].
The cream base and stripe layout would go on to become a corporate livery for the GRT Group, albeit with different colours for the stripes. The First Grampian livery consisted of the GRT livery, with the fleetname changed to the FirstBus corporate style with the stylised f symbol. Some new buses were introduced with a modified Gold Standard version of the green livery.
First Grampian livery persisted until 1998. On renaming to First Aberdeen, corporate First white and pink livery was introduced, but it took a number of years before it was used on all buses.
In 2012 First are planning to get new livery.
Fleet
A mainstay of the GRT fleet in the 1970s up to 1983 was the Leyland Atlantean double-decker bus with Alexander AL Type bodywork, supplemented by the Leyland National single-decker bus. In 1985 it moved to the Leyland Olympian double-decker with Alexander RH Type bodywork until 1988. From 1991 to 1997 the company steadily bought the Mercedes-Benz O405 single-decker.
GRT was one of the first UK users of articulated buses, trialing a Mercedes Benz. As of 2008, Aberdeen was one of the major locations for articulated buses in the United Kingdom.
In 2008 the fleet received a batch of 12 Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B9TLs.
As of 2008, all of the First Aberdeen fleet mainly consisted of low-floor buses.
Services
A Metro network was introduced on 13 May 2001 as a series of colour-coded high-frequency routes with the promise of no reduction in services in the following three years. In September 2004, a small number of services were withdrawn and minor revisions were made to some existing services.
Metro was later renamed the Overground network in line with other First companies. This was a group wide initiative to rationalise route networks into high frequency colour coded networks running on main routes, to reduce the amount of confusing overlaps and divergences of routes on minor roads.
In April 2008 there was a big change in the services affecting most of the services.
Overground
| No. | Type | From | To | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red Line | Danestone | Garthdee | |
| 2 | Red Line | Ashwood | Auchinyell | |
| 3 | Purple Line | Mastrick | Cove | |
| 3A | Purple Line | Mastrick | Charleston | |
| 5 | Lime Green Line | Dubford | Balnagask Circle | |
| 6 | Hillhead Of Seaton | ARI | No Weekend Service | |
| 9 | Lavender Line | Schoolhill | RGU Garthdee | University Open Only |
| 12 | Green Line | Heathryfold | Torry | |
| 13 | Pink Line | Scatterburn | Dubford | |
| 14 | Salmon Line | Kingswells | Golf Links | |
| 15 | Salmon Line | Woodend | Beach Retail Park | |
| 16 | Orange Line | Northfield | Craigiebuckler | |
| 16A | Orange Line | Northfield | Airyhall | |
| 17 | Blue Line | Faulds Gate | Newhills | |
| 17A | Blue Line | Faulds Gate | Dyce | |
| 19 | Turquoise Line | Tillydrone | Culter | |
| 20 | Indigo Line | Hillhead of Seaton | Union Terrace Gardens | |
| 21 | Claret Line | Charleston/Altens | Dyce | No Sunday Service |
| 21A | Claret Line | Charleston/Altens | Dyce | |
| 23 | Yellow Line | Summerhill | Heathryfold | |
| 25 | City Centre | Mastrick | No Sunday Service | |
| 27 | City Centre | Airport | No Weekend Service | |
| 40 | Park & Ride | Kingswells P&R | Bridge of Don P&R | No Sunday Service |
| X80 | Airport | Dyce Train Station | Saturday Only |
Late Night Services
Saturday & Sunday Mornings Only
| No. | Type | From | To | Last Bus | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2A | Red Line | City Churchyard | Ashwood | 3.40am | |
| 3A | Purple Line | Bridge Street | Cove/Charleston | 3.34am | |
| 12 | Green Line | Guild Street | Heathryfold | 3.40am | |
| 17 | Blue Line | City Churchyard | Dyce | 3.30am | |
| 19 | Turquoise Line | City Churchyard | Culter | 3.30am | |
| 20 | Indigo Line | Broad Street | Hillhead | 3.10am | University Open Only |
| 23 | Yellow Line | City Churchyard | Sheddocksley | 3.40am |
Revenue
The majority of services are operated commercially, with some services partially subsidised through Aberdeen City Council. The company operates an exact fare policy, whereby no change is given by the driver.
Competitors
As the incumbent city bus operator since the tram era, First Aberdeen has retained control of almost all of the bus services in Aberdeen over the years. Stagecoach is the only other major bus operator but only through its Stagecoach East Scotland (Bluebird Buses Ltd) operating along major trunk routes and a single city centre service. This has been the source of many complaints over the years, with many councillors and members of the public suggesting that the lack of competition in Aberdeen has led to fare prices in the city becoming unreasonably high.[citation needed]
King Street Headquarters
The company has occupied a historic depot site at 395 King Street at the heart of the city since 1914. It was built in 1862 and bought by Aberdeen Corporation Tramways[10] The site also served as global headquarters of FirstGroup since its creation. On 21 June 2007 First gained permission to redevelop the site into a new Aberdeen bus depot and global FirstGroup headquarters building. It was officially opened by Anne, Princess Royal on 15th July 2010.[11]
See also
References
- ^ FirstGroup official site company history page, accessed 10 September 2008
- ^ Interview with Moir Lockhead by www.railwaypeople.com, 11 April 2006
- ^ Buses Magazine, Issue 648, March 2009, Ian Allen Publishing
- ^ Image of a preserved Aberdeen Corporation dark green liveried bus
- ^ Image of a preserved Aberdeen Corporation pea-green liveried bus
- ^ Image of Aberdeen Corporation pea-green liveried buses, 1976
- ^ Images of a Grampian Region liveried buses, 1980
- ^ Image of a preserved Grampian Region liveried bus
- ^ Image of buses in the GRT Group Grampian corporate livery, 1986
- ^ www.firstgroup.com The History of 395 King Street 1862 – 2007
- ^ The Princess Royal opens FirstGroup's new Aberdeen base, accessed 29 April 2011
External links
