First Glasgow TransBus Trident/TransBus ALX400

New owners for a former First operations….

 

RATP Dev UK and Tower Transit have announced a joint venture (JV) in West London that will be effective from December. RATP Dev Transit London will operate 115 routes from 10 depots. RATP Dev will be the majority partner and Tower Transit will hold a 12.5% interest.

 

The JV will capture RATP Dev’s London Sovereign and London United businesses, which will retain their existing brands. Also forming part of the arrangement is Tower Transit’s operation from Westbourne Park. It will become London Transit.

 

Lea Interchange depot in East London – which, like Westbourne Park, was purchased by Tower Transit from First in 2013 – is not part of the JV. It will remain a separate Tower Transit entity.

 

However, “options for this asset are still being analysed, with an outcome expected in a similar timeframe to the completion of the [JV] transaction,” Tower Transit parent Sealink Travel Group says in a statement that also describes the London bus market as “challenging.”

 

The JV has come about “in response to an increasingly competitive London bus market requiring greater investment and market adaptation,” adds RATP Dev. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan recently confirmed that all new buses ordered for Transport for London (TfL) services will be zero-emission and that the capital’s bus network will transition to entirely zero-emission operation by 2034.

 

Says RATP Dev Senior Vice President – United Kingdom, South Africa and Americas Business Unit Mehdi Sinaceur: “We are delighted to have reached a JV agreement with Tower Transit.

 

“Both RATP Dev London and Tower Transit are well established operators in West London and this partnership will increase our competitiveness, improve our cost base, further our commitment to electrification, enhance our offer to passengers and expand opportunities for employees. We look forward to working closely with our colleagues at Tower Transit to ensure that the opportunities offered by the partnership are fully realised.”

 

Adds Tower Transit Group Chairman and Sealink Chief Financial Officer for international operations Paul Cox: “This is a very exciting development for Tower Transit and its parent, Sealink Travel Group.

 

“The negotiation of this agreement has already proved that a close working relationship can be achieved that will be mutually beneficial, with common vision and values existing from the outset.”

 

The most recent data from TfL shows that as of 31 March, RATP Dev operated 1,069 buses and Tower Transit 321. Once completed, it is anticipated that the JV will have an annual turnover of around £275m.

 

First entered the London tendering business technically way back in 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, before being recombined with Eastern National in the late 1990s as First Essex.

 

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 rebranded as FirstGroup. Subsequently, CentreWest was renamed First CentreWest. On 8 July 1998, FirstGroup purchased Capital Citybus. It was subsequently renamed First Capital.

 

In March 2001, First consolidated the CentreWest and Capital operations under the First London brand. 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.

 

The London tendering regime specified new easy accessible vehicles for tenders under a drive to make the capital’s buses as accessible as possible. Whilst this was laudable, it had unfortunate side effects and tended to skewer capital investment in vehicles towards London. So First was compelled to invest in its London operations, with vehicles such as 33370 (LK53EYM), a former First London bus now cascaded to First Glasgow in 2012, and ex-London buses then being cascaded to other companies in the group. It was a model which was seen very unfairly by the fleets outside London, especially as they provided the majority of the profits that were being diverted to London to fund vehicles there.

 

First’s operations in London weren’t that profitable and there was always the risk that a bad tendering price or tender losses could seriously impact your business. So it wasn’t that much of a surprise with hindsight that First elected to exit the London business. In December 2007 the company's Orpington business, which had been established by CentreWest in 1995, was sold to Metrobus, part of the Go-Ahead group, along with 35 buses. In March 2012, Northumberland Park garage was sold to Gi-Ahead London General.

 

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.

 

First London ceased operating on 27 September 2013 after its remaining contracts with Transport for London expired.

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