First Worcester

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British bus operating company

title: "First Worcester" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["firstgroup-bus-operators-in-england", "bus-operators-in-herefordshire", "transport-in-worcestershire", "1981-establishments-in-england"] description: "British bus operating company" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Worcester" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British bus operating company ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Bus transit"]

FieldValue
nameFirst Worcester
logoFile:FirstBus 2024.svg
logo_size150
imageFile:SN65OKK First Midland Red Wrightbus StreetDeck (37115527123).jpg
image_captionA First Worcester Wright StreetDeck at Showbus 2017
parentFirstGroup
founded6 September 1981
headquartersAbbey Lane, Leicester
depotsPadmore Street, Worcester
service_areaHerefordshire
Worcestershire
service_typeBus services
websitefirstbus.co.uk/worcestershire
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|name = First Worcester |logo = File:FirstBus 2024.svg |logo_size = 150 |image = File:SN65OKK First Midland Red Wrightbus StreetDeck (37115527123).jpg |image size = |image_caption = A First Worcester Wright StreetDeck at Showbus 2017 |parent = FirstGroup |founded = 6 September 1981 |headquarters = Abbey Lane, Leicester |depots = Padmore Street, Worcester |service_area = Herefordshire Worcestershire |service_type = Bus services |destinations = |fleet = |operator = |website = firstbus.co.uk/worcestershire}}

First Midland Red Buses, trading as First Worcester, is a bus company operating services in Herefordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup, and is managed as part of the First West of England business unit.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Midland_Red_West_buses_756_(AFJ_756T)%26_754(AFJ_754T),_11_April_1990.jpg" caption="Midland Red West [[Leyland National]]s in April 1990"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Midland_Red_West_bus_1307_(C307_PNP),_26_August_1987.jpg" caption="Mercedes-Benz]] L608D in August 1987"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Midland_Red_West_bus_1405_(A669_XDA),_6_July_1989.jpg" caption="Mercedes-Benz]] L608D in July 1989"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/First_Midland_Red_1121.JPG" caption="[[Leyland Lynx]] at Kidderminster depot in February 2004"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Bus,Kidderminster-_DSCF0923.JPG" caption="[[Plaxton Verde]] bodied [[Dennis Lance]] in [[Kidderminster]] in June 2011"] ::

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In September 1981 Midland Red West

Based in Worcester, Midland Red West's main areas of operation were Worcestershire, Herefordshire, parts of Shropshire and parts of the West Midlands conurbation, including Birmingham. Birmingham was also served by the other companies formed from the break-up of Midland Red.

Minibus operations

In November 1985 Midland Red West introduced a fleet of 60 minibuses to operate its urban network in Worcester as part of a new high-frequency service within the city, operating under the Citibus trading name. The distinctive yellow, orange and blue liveried Mercedes-Benz L608Ds displaced larger buses such as Leyland Nationals onto interurban routes. At its launch the service was the UK's largest urban bus service operated by minibuses.

Privatisation

In December 1986 Midland Red West along with the 40 vehicle Midland Red Coaches was sold to Midland West Holdings in a management buyout.

The livery of many of its vehicles changed from the National Bus Company's poppy red to a deeper red and cream livery. The company also sported a new logo of a Wyvern. Apart from being the name of an imaginary creature, the name Wyvern was also a portmanteau of the 2 major rivers which run through Herefordshire and Worcestershire; the Wye and Severn.

In 1987 Midland Red West Holdings purchased the Bristol Omnibus Company from the National Bus Company. It operated urban services around the Bristol area under the City Line trading name, which was kept.

Badgerline Group

In April 1988 Midland Red West Holdings was purchased by fellow Bristol operator Badgerline. The trading names of Midland Red West and Badgerline remained unchanged as did vehicle livery, though many of Midland Red West's Leyland Lynxs sported a badger motif on the rear sides of the vehicle. The merger reunited the two constituent parts of the Bristol Omnibus Company, City Line and the Bristol country services which had been separated in 1986. In 1995 Badgerline merged with GRT Group to form FirstBus. In 1999 Midland Red West was rebranded as First Midland Red.

Fleet

In 1990 Midland Red West began to expand and modernise its fleet of full-size single deck buses purchasing 50 Leyland Lynxs, which were put into service at Digbeth depot, displacing all that depot's Leyland Nationals. Eight of these Lynxs shortly found their way to Redditch depot and two years later five of these eight Redditch Lynxes ended up at Kidderminster depot, while Redditch acquired four more from Digbeth.

In 1994 37 new Plaxton Verde bodied Dennis Lances, which were now the Badgerline Group's standard full-size single deck bus, arrived at Digbeth, displacing the existing Leyland Lynxes to Kidderminster and Redditch depots.

The modern day fleet mainly consists of ADLs including Enviro200, Enviro300 and Enviro400.

Services

Most services depart from Crowngate Bus Station in Worcester towards Great Malvern, Bromsgrove (including Catshill) and Evesham as well as the city suburbs. There are occasional rural services to Baynhall on route 332 (otherwise run by Astons Coaches to Upton-on-Severn), Upton on route 333, Ryall on route 636, Ledbury on route 417, once a day to Bromyard on route 420, otherwise run solely by DRM Bus ever since Hereford closed (who used to run the 420). Service 363 used to run hourly to Tewkesbury but had been cut back to Ryall by 2020. There are also a few occasional services operating outside Worcestershire such as the Wednesdays only 405 (Ledbury - Hereford via Bromyard) and Fridays only 482 (Ledbury - Leominster via Bromyard).

Before and after First formation, services 371, 372 and 373 used to run to Gloucester. These have since been withdrawn.

Between 2018 and 2020, First won the contract to run Mondays only route 481 (Ledbury - Cheltenham Spa via Malvern Link, Upton-on-Severn and Tewkesbury)

Service 144, branded as "The Salt Road", operates between Worcester and Catshill, and until May 2022, operated hourly services into Birmingham. The Birmingham section of the route was curtailed due to low passenger numbers, bringing an end to the Worcester-Birmingham service after 108 years.

Operations

The company has one depot located on Padmore Street in Worcester.

Former operations

In January 2013, the Kidderminster and Redditch depots were sold to Rotala with 36 buses who integrated it with its Diamond Bus subsidiary.

In September 2015, First Midland Red ceased operating services in Hereford with the depot closed. At the time it operated 19 buses. The Hereford routes were taken over by Yeomans while DRM took over the service to Worcester. The company still runs one bus a week on Wednesdays into Hereford from Ledbury.

References

References

  1. [http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/01556327 Companies House extract company no 1556327] First Midland Red Buses Limited formerly Midland Red West Limited
  2. link. (3 November 2013 MidlandRed.net)
  3. Cole, David. (2008). "Buses Yearbook 2009". [[Ian Allan Publishing]].
  4. [http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/01556325 Companies House extract company no 1556325] Bristol Bus Station Limited formerly Midland Red Coaches Limited
  5. [http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/02059633 Companies House extract company no 2059633] FirstBus Group Limited formerly FirstGroup Holdings Limited formerly Midland Red West Holdings Limited
  6. [http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/02029363 Companies House extract company no 2029363] FirstGroup Holdings Limited formerly FirstBus Group Limited formerly Badgerline Holdings Limited
  7. {{usurped
  8. Curtis, C and Walker, M (2007) ''Bristol Omnibus Services: The Green Years'' Millstream Books {{ISBN. 978-0-948975-80-6, p.222
  9. link. (27 September 2013 ''The Bus People'' 24 January 2013)
  10. [http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/10186852.First_sells_Worcestershire_bus_services/ First sells Worcester bus services] ''Worcester News'' 25 January 2013
  11. [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-33312434 First Midland plans to end Hereford bus services] ''[[BBC News]]'' 29 June 2015
  12. "Yeoman's and DRM step in" ''Bus & Coach Buyer'' 31 July 2015 issue 1338 page 11
  13. "First exits Hereford" ''Bus & Coach Buyer'' 11 September 2015 issue 1344 page 8

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

firstgroup-bus-operators-in-englandbus-operators-in-herefordshiretransport-in-worcestershire1981-establishments-in-england