First Glasgow

For the political party, see Glasgow First.
First Greater Glasgow
A First Glasgow Alexander Dennis Enviro200EV in Glasgow city centre in September 2022
ParentFirstGroup
FoundedMay 1996
HeadquartersGlasgow
LocaleGreater Glasgow
Service area
Service typeBus services
Routes84
Fleet600+ (January 2023)[1]
Fuel typeDiesel, Electric
Websitefirstbus.co.uk/greater-glasgow

First Glasgow is the largest bus company serving the Greater Glasgow area in Scotland. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. The company operates within the area covered by the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, a public body responsible for helping to co-ordinate public transport services in the Greater Glasgow area.

History

A First Glasgow Volvo Ailsa B55 in Bridgeton in 2005

First Glasgow was created through FirstGroup's buyout of Strathclyde Buses (created from the former Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive bus fleet, formerly the municipal Glasgow Corporation Transport), which had itself recently bought out the former Kelvin Central Buses (an amalgamation of Kelvin Scottish and Central Scottish, owned by the state-owned Scottish Bus Group).[2][3][4]

First Glasgow has two operator's licences:[1]

  • First Glasgow (No. 1) Limited[5] – the former Strathclyde Buses licence
  • First Glasgow (No. 2) Limited[6] – the former Kelvin Central Buses licence

Buses carry legal signwriting for First Glasgow Limited, despite this having been a dormant company since at least 2008.[7]

Services

An Airport Express Alexander Dennis Enviro400 City in 2019

First Glasgow mainly run services in Greater Glasgow and Lanarkshire areas of Strathclyde. However, some services also run outside of these areas. It was one of the first bus operators to introduce an "overground", a colour-coded set of bus routes with route branding on the bus exteriors and timetables. As of 2006, route branding has been removed from buses but remained on timetables until mid 2008.

First Glasgow reintroduced route branding in the form of SimpliCITY in May 2013 as a way to improve bus services in Glasgow, after a period of taking consultation from residents of Glasgow about the planned route changes. Buses were installed with free Wi-Fi and were branded with SimpliCITY logos, while routes were simplified in order to make more frequent journeys in and out of the city centre.[8]

Fleet

As of January 2023, First Glasgow operates a fleet of over 600 buses on over 80 routes,[1] a majority of these buses being built by either Alexander Dennis or Wrightbus.

A Low Emission Zone (LEZ) covering Glasgow city centre was introduced on 31 December 2018; the first phase of this applying solely to local service buses.[9] In October and November 2018, to comply with the new emission standards, First Glasgow placed into service a first batch of Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMCs onto route 75,[10] followed by an order for a further 53 Enviro400 MMCs, 10 Enviro400 Cities for the Glasgow Airport Express service,[11] and 12 Enviro200 MMCs for delivery in 2019,[12][13] partly funded by Transport Scotland's Scottish Green Bus Fund.[14]

Battery electric buses first entered service with First Glasgow in the form of two BYD Alexander Dennis Enviro200EV single-deck buses in January 2020, purchased with funding from SP Energy Networks for service on route M3.[15][16][17] 22 more Enviro200EVs were later delivered to Caldeonia depot in November 2021, which were used as shuttle buses for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in the city,[18][19] followed by a repeat order for 50 more in September 2022.[20] Orders were also made for 91 Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV double-decker buses alongside 35 more Enviro200EVs in March 2021, the first of which began to enter service from December 2021,[21] and 50 Enviro200EVs began to be delivered to Scotstoun depot from June 2023.[22]

First Glasgow aims to be an entirely zero-emission company by 2035, with 40% of the fleet's buses compliant with Glasgow's Low Emission Zone. The company's Caledonia depot is the largest electric vehicle charging station in the United Kingdom, currently capable of charging 150 electric buses at once, with infrastructure work currently underway to expand this to a total of 350 charging points.[23][24] 27 dual-head charging units are also situated at Scotstoun depot.[22]

Depots

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC at Buchanan bus station in September 2022

First Glasgow currently operates out of five depots:

In May 2013, the Cumbernauld depot closed with staff, buses and services transferred to Larkfield, Parkhead and Blantyre depots.

The Larkfield depot in Glasgow's Govanhill[26] closed on 18 October 2014,[27] with all staff, buses and services moving to a new purpose-built facility on the site of the former Gushetfaulds railfreight terminal on nearby Cathcart Road.[28] The new depot and head office, known as Caledonia Depot, opened on 14 October 2014.[29] It was officially opened by First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon on 12 December that year.[30][31]

In January 2016, the Parkhead depot closed after 93 years of operation, and services and drivers transferred to the new Caledonia Depot on Cathcart Road.[32][33]

Fares

First Glasgow operates an "exact fare" payment policy which was also used by predecessors Trans Clyde and Strathclyde Buses. In 2022, First Glasgow introduced a contactless card payment system known as Tap On Tap Off[34] which is compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay as well as contactless payment cards. Customers can also buy various tickets such as 5 single journeys, 10 single journeys, day, weekly, monthly through First's official app..[35]

First Glasgow is also a partner in Glasgow Tripper, an unlimited day pass which can also be used on McGill's, Stagecoach within the Glasgow area, Glasgow Citybus and Whitelaw's.[36]

References

  1. ^ a b c "About us". FirstBus Greater Glasgow. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  2. ^ Takeover nets bus workers £35,000 The Independent 10 May 1996
  3. ^ Bus takeover is finally cleared The Herald 1 August 1998
  4. ^ FirstBus Plc and SB Holdings Limited: A freport on the merger situation[usurped] Competition Commission
  5. ^ Companies House extract company no SC097299 First Glasgow No 1 Limited formerly Strathclyde Buses Limited
  6. ^ Companies House extract company no SC127012 First Glasgow No 2 Limited formerly Kelvin Central Buses Limited
  7. ^ Companies House extract company no SC129033 First Glasgow Limited
  8. ^ "First Glasgow confirms changes to its simplicity proposals".
  9. ^ Glasgow City Centre Rings in the New Year with Scotland's First Low Emission Zone Glasgow City Council, 1 January 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  10. ^ In pictures: First Glasgow launch new eco fleet with world's largest model bus display in George Square The Sunday Post, 9 October 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  11. ^ "Take-off for Glasgow Airport fleet renewal". Coach & Bus Week. Peterborough: Emap. 30 April 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  12. ^ First Glasgow launches new fleet of eco-friendly buses ahead of city-wide low emissions zone Intelligent Transport, 16 October 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  13. ^ First Glasgow confirms plans to invest in 75 new ADL buses in 2019 Coach & Bus Week, 4 December 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  14. ^ Over £1 million to help green buses Transport Scotland, 31 December 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  15. ^ "First Glasgow unveils new electric buses for the City". Coach & Bus Week. Peterborough: Emap. 14 January 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  16. ^ Mehmet, Sam (13 January 2020). "First Bus rolls out first commercial e-buses in Glasgow since 1960s". Intelligent Transport. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  17. ^ Cameron, Lucinda (10 January 2020). "Electric buses launched on commercial route in Glasgow for first time in over 50 years". Glasgow Live. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  18. ^ "First Glasgow prepares for COP26 with order of 22 BYD ADL Enviro200EVs". Coach & Bus Week. Peterborough: Emap. 9 March 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  19. ^ "First to operate COP26 delegate shuttles". Coach & Bus Week. Peterborough: Emap. 12 October 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  20. ^ Deakin, Tim (22 September 2022). "BYD ADL and Yutong in First Bus Scotland 74 EV order". routeone. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  21. ^ Trimble, James (31 March 2021). "First Bus order 126 brand new vehicles from Camelon coach builder". Falkirk Herald. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  22. ^ a b "First Glasgow begins further growth of city's electric fleet". routeone. 4 July 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  23. ^ "First Glasgow to grow EV charging at Caledonia to 350 vehicles 74 EV order". routeone. 22 September 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  24. ^ "Zero Emission Mission". FirstBus Greater Glasgow. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  25. ^ "Bus depot bid to be UK's largest electric vehicle charging hub". BBC News. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  26. ^ First Larkfield Depot, 'For all the photos nobody else was daft enough to take', 28 February 2010
  27. ^ Plans for homes on former Larkfield bus depot site in Govanhill offcially [sic] submitted, Evening Times, 13 January 2018
  28. ^ "First's new £20m Glasgow depot". Bus and Coach Buyer. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  29. ^ "We've moved". First Glasgow. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  30. ^ First Minister Opens UK's Biggest Bus Depot in Glasgow[permanent dead link] First Group 12 December 2014
  31. ^ First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Opens New Caledonia Bus Depot Janus Architecture, 12 December 2014
  32. ^ First Glasgow to shut Parkhead depot after 93 years, Evening Times, 2 October 2015
  33. ^ All Aboard For Major Housing Development At Parkhead Bus Depot Site, reGlasgow, 30 August 2019
  34. ^ "Tap on, Tap off | First Bus".
  35. ^ Contactless payments come to all First Glasgow buses, Intelligent Transport, 7 November 2017
  36. ^ Glasgow Tripper Media Release, Glasgow Tripper, 5 November 2017