The First Singapore is operated and owned by FirstGroup PLC. The company operates over 500 bus routes and are sub-brands:
- First Northern
- First Sentosa
- First Western
Alexander Dennis Enviro200Darts returned briefly on April 2008, and seen on regular services. For the First Sentosa, it uses Volvo B7RLE. First Sentosa had however sold off to Stagecoach in July 2013.
First Singapore ceased operating in 29 September 2013. These were however superseded by Metroline and Tower Transit.
History[]
FirstGroup was formed as FirstBus on 16 May 1995, through the merger of Badgerline and the GRT Group.
Although what became First Singapore 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 Singapore 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 Singapore 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 and Grey Green. Grey Green has Dennis Dragon, Scania N113CRB and later on, Dennis Trident 2. Grey Green also have Volvo B10Ms. It was subsequently renamed First Capital.
In March 2001, First consolidated the CentreWest and Capital operations under the First Singapore 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.
From 1999 to 2007, First Western had bought 510 Dennis Trident 2/Plaxton Presidents, 60 Dennis Trident 2/Alexander ALX400s, 27 Volvo B7TL/Alexander ALX400s and 128 Volvo B7TL/Plaxton Presidents. These were ideally used for Jurong Industrial Services and 450, inclusive of 179/199/182/192/193.