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First London was a bus company operating services in Greater London, England. It was a subsidiary of FirstGroup and operated buses under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in the late 1990s through the acquisition of three London bus operators. First London's garages were sold off between December 2007 and July 2013 with the last closing in September 2013. ==Company history== FirstGroup was formed as FirstBus on 16 May 1995, through the merger of Badgerline and the GRT Group.〔(Badgerline links with GRT ) ''The Independent'' 5 April 1995〕 Although what became First London was established in 1997, FirstBus could trace its involvement in London bus services back to 1990 when Badgerline acquired Eastern National, the Essex based former National Bus Company subsidiary that had operated numerous routes in East London since tendering began in 1985. These operations were subsequently transferred to a new division, Thamesway Buses,〔(Companies House extract company no 2122144 ) Thamesway Limited〕 before being recombined with Eastern National in the late 1990s as First Essex.〔(Eastern National ) Thurrock Transport〕 In March 1997, FirstBus purchased CentreWest, which had been established in April 1989 as a subsidiary of London Regional Transport before being sold in a management buyout during the privatisation of London bus services in September 1994. Since 1993 CentreWest had been using local identities based on each of its garages, such as ''Ealing Buses'' at Greenford garage and ''Challenger'' at Alperton garage, and in March 1996 it had acquired Southall based London Buslines from the Q-Drive group. All these identities were originally retained, buses receiving new-style fleetnames incorporating FirstBus's corporate ''f'' logo. In December 1997, FirstBus was rebranded as FirstGroup. Subsequently, CentreWest was renamed First CentreWest, while the buses' fleetnames were revised again so that "First" was prominent, the local identities becoming secondary. On 8 July 1998, FirstGroup purchased Capital Citybus.〔(FirstGroup finds London bus firm is just the ticket ) ''Herald Scotland'' 9 July 1998〕〔(Tendered Bus Services ) Select Committee on Environment, Transport & Regional Affairs March 1999〕〔(Annual Report Year Ended 31 March 1999 ) FirstGroup〕 It was subsequently renamed First Capital. In March 2001, First consolidated the CentreWest and Capital operations under the First London brand.〔Wharmby, Matthew, ''The London Metrobus'' (Ian Allan Publishing, 2009). ISBN 978-0-7110-3377-1〕 Both were managed from CentreWest's head office beside Paddington station, as was First Berkshire & The Thames Valley, the former Beeline operation that had also been acquired by CentreWest from Q-Drive in 1996. The London Buslines operation was wound down, with its routes, buses and license all being transferred to CentreWest by September 2001.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Dennis Dart EDR )〕 In December 2007 the company's Orpington business, which had been established by CentreWest in 1995, was sold to Metrobus, along with 35 buses.〔(Orpington depot taken over by Metrobus ) ''busandcoach.com'' 24 October 2007〕 In March 2012, Northumberland Park garage was sold to London General.〔(Go-Ahead Group Acquires Northumberland Park Bus Depot ) Go-Ahead Group 19 March 2012〕 In June 2013, FirstGroup sold Alperton, Greenford, Hayes, Uxbridge and Willesden Junction garages with 494 buses to Metroline and Atlas Road (Park Royal), Lea Interchange (Leyton) and Westbourne Park garages with 412 buses to Tower Transit.〔(FirstGroup Announces Sale of Eight London Bus Depots ) FirstGroup 9 April 2013〕〔(Australian public transport innovator acquires first international fleet ) Transit Systems 9 April 2013〕 First London ceased operating on 27 September 2013 after its remaining contracts with Transport for London expired. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「First London」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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