First Worcester

First Midland Red Buses,[1] trading as First Worcester, is a bus company operating services in Herefordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.

First Worcester
A First Worcester Wright StreetDeck at Showbus 2017
ParentFirstGroup
Founded6 September 1981
HeadquartersAbbey Lane, Leicester
Service areaHerefordshire
Worcestershire
Service typeBus services
DepotsPadmore Street, Worcester
Chief executiveNigel Eggleton
Websitefirstbus.co.uk/worcestershire

History
Midland Red West Leyland Nationals in April 1990
Citibus branded Mercedes-Benz L608D in August 1987
ReddiLink branded Mercedes-Benz L608D in July 1989
Leyland Lynx at Kidderminster depot in February 2004
Plaxton Verde bodied Dennis Lance in Kidderminster in June 2011
For 1905–1981 history, see Midland Red.

In September 1981 Midland Red West[1] was formed with 183 buses operating from six depots in Gloucestershire, Hereford, Worcestershire and Powys as part of the breakup of the Midland Red bus company. In September 1983 the 20 vehicle Bromsgrove depot was closed.[2]

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.[3]

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.[2]

Privatisation

In December 1986 Midland Red West along with the 40 vehicle Midland Red Coaches[4] was sold to Midland West Holdings[5] in a management buyout.[2][3]

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.[6][7] 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 from in 1986.[8] 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.[3]

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.[3]

The modern day fleet mainly consists of Wright StreetDecks, Wright StreetLites, Mercedes-Benz Citaros and Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs, as well as Wright Eclipse 2s branded for The Salt Road.

Services

Most services depart from Crowngate Bus Station in Worcester to Tewkesbury, Ledbury, Bromyard, Droitwich, Catshill and frequent buses to many local areas.

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.[9][10]

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.[11][12][13] The company still runs one bus a week on Wednesdays into Hereford from Ledbury.

References
  1. Companies House extract company no 1556327 First Midland Red Buses Limited formerly Midland Red West Limited
  2. Midland Red Depots Archived 3 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine MidlandRed.net
  3. Cole, David (2008). "From Poppy to Barbie: The vehicles of Midland Red West". In Stewart J. Brown (ed.). Buses Yearbook 2009. Ian Allan Publishing. pp. 66–77. ISBN 978-0-7110-3295-8.
  4. Companies House extract company no 1556325 Bristol Bus Station Limited formerly Midland Red Coaches Limited
  5. Companies House extract company no 2059633 FirstBus Group Limited formerly FirstGroup Holdings Limited formerly Midland Red West Holdings Limited
  6. Companies House extract company no 2029363 FirstGroup Holdings Limited formerly FirstBus Group Limited formerly Badgerline Holdings Limited
  7. Badgerline Holdings Ltd and Midland Red West Holdings Ltd Competition Commission 1989
  8. Curtis, C and Walker, M (2007) Bristol Omnibus Services: The Green Years Millstream Books ISBN 978-0-948975-80-6, p.222
  9. Rotala snaps up FirstGroup's bus operations in Worcestershire for £1.5 million Archived 27 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine The Bus People 24 January 2013
  10. First sells Worcester bus services Worcester News 25 January 2013
  11. 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
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