Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

First South West

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Service area
  
Cornwall Somerset

Depots
  
6

Routes
  
82

Parent organization
  
FirstGroup

Service type
  
Bus services

Headquarters
  
Camborne

Fleet
  
419

First South West

Website
  
firstkernow.co.uk, busesofsomerset.co.uk

First South West is a bus company operating services in the English counties of Somerset and Cornwall. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.

Contents

First South West includes the First Kernow, Buses of Somerset and Buses of Taunton brands.

History

First South West was known as 'First Devon & Cornwall' until 2015. This had been formed from two previous FirstGroup companies: Western National in Cornwall and south Devon, and Red Bus in north Devon. FirstGroup purchased independent Cornish operator Truronian in April 2008 and merged it into First Devon & Cornwall. First Somerset & Avon routes around Taunton and Bridgwater were transferred to First Devon & Cornwall in 2014 and rebranded as The Buses of Somerset.

On 6 September 2015, the Plymouth, Dartmouth and Tavistock garages were taken over by Stagecoach South West. Torpoint depot is being used to store the unused members of the fleet. At the same time, First Devon & Cornwall changed their name to First South West to reflect their new area of operation which is only in Cornwall and south Somerset.

Routes

First South West routes cover much of Cornwall. It operates the Park & Ride service in Truro. In March 2015, First Kernow commenced operating some of Western Greyhound following its sudden closure.

Fleet

As at March 2013 the fleet consisted of 240 buses and coaches.

First South West operate one of the older FirstGroup fleets with an average of 11.6 years. New purchases are rare with most buses transferred from other group fleets.

Until December 2006 First South West operated the last sizeable fleet of Bristol VRT double-deck buses in the United Kingdom. Some of these Bristol VRTs were preserved.

As at September 2013 the oldest buses in the fleet were seven 1987 Alexander RH bodied Volvo B10M-50s that have been converted to open top buses for services between Penzance, Lands End and St Ives.

Depots

  • Bridgwater
  • Camborne
  • Newquay
  • Penzance
  • Taunton
  • Truro
  • Outstations

  • Eden Project
  • Falmouth
  • Helston
  • Minehead
  • Padstow
  • References

    First South West Wikipedia