First South Yorkshire is a major bus operator providing bus services within and across

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

. It is a subsidiary of

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland. In 1989, South Yorkshire Transport introduced the ''Mainline'' brand on certain bus routes around

. Buses operated with ''Sheffield Mainline'' names in a bright red and yellow livery, replacing the previous "coffee and cream" livery. It was followed by ''Doncaster Mainline'' in a silver grey and red livery relieved by a light yellow band and finally ''Rotherham Mainline'', whose buses were painted blue and yellow. In 1992, the local brands were dropped and ''Mainline'' became the standard fleetname across the company's operating area. A common red and yellow livery with silver and blue bands was introduced. In November 1993, Mainline was sold to its employees in a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...

. Shortly after, Stagecoach Holdings purchased a 20% stake in the company, however this was ordered to be sold in 1995 to

FirstBus FirstGroup plc is a British Multinational corporation, multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland. Buses were repainted in a simplified red and yellow livery, reminiscent of the original 1989 ''Sheffield Mainline'' livery. In 2000 ''First Mainline'' was rebranded as ''First South Yorkshire'' and the corporate light grey, blue and pink livery introduced. In 2013, First South Yorkshire began to paint buses into First's new ''Olympia'' corporate livery, which is an updated version of the former livery. At the same time, the individual ''First Sheffield'', ''First Rotherham'', ''First Doncaster'' and ''First X78'' brands were introduced. The ''First X78'' brand was superseded by the ''Steel Link'' brand in 2015, while the ''First Rotherham'' brand was retired with the closure of the Rotherham depot in 2017. The operations of First South Yorkshire and First Midlands, consisting of

First Potteries First Potteries is a bus company based in Stoke-on-Trent operating services in North Staffordshire, England. It is a part of First Midlands and a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History The company began life as Potteries Motor Traction. As part ...

First Leicester Leicester Citybus,Companies House extract company no 2000072< ...

and

First Worcester First Midland Red Buses,Companies House extract company no 1556327< ...

, merged on 1 June 2020 to form

First South Yorkshire & Midlands First South Yorkshire & Midlands is an operating unit of FirstGroup operating in the English Midlands and South Yorkshire. The unit was formed in 2008 with the merger of the management and administration of First Potteries, First Worcester and ...

. The new company would be managed by First Midlands CEO, Nigel Eggleton. The aim of this merger was to revitalise bus services in both merger regions, following a period of poor customer service by First South Yorkshire.

Services

First Doncaster 'Mainline' 36263 - BG12 YJV

First South Yorkshire operate services in

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. Due to bus services history and number changes, some routes share service numbers within

. Route X78 is an express service which runs from

Sheffield Interchange Sheffield Interchange is the main bus station in central Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The facility is served by buses operating across the Sheffield region, as well as National Express coaches that connect Sheffield with destinations ac ...

Doncaster Frenchgate Interchange The Frenchgate Interchange (also known as Doncaster Interchange) is a rail and bus transport interchange located within the Frenchgate Shopping Centre in the city centre of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It has 30 bus stands, with a large ...

via Meadowhall,

and

Conisbrough Conisbrough () is a town within the City of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England. It is roughly midway between Doncaster and Rotherham, and is built alongside the River Don at . It has a ward population (Conisbrough and Denaby) of 14,333. ...

. In 2016, 22

Wright StreetDeck The Wright StreetDeck is an integral double-decker bus that was manufactured by Wrightbus from 2014, originally delivered as standard with a Daimler OM934 diesel engine. Hybrid-electric, full-electric and hydrogen-powered variants have subseq ...

s, some of which were originally intended for the ''Steel Link'', were placed in service on the X78 as part of an initiative to improve Rotherham's bus services. In September 2016, ''Steel Link'' X1 express route commenced operating from Sheffield to Maltby via the

Bus Rapid Transit North Bus Rapid Transit North is a bus rapid transit scheme introduced by the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive in England. It consists of one route operated by First South Yorkshire between Sheffield and Rotherham. History In November 2 ...

scheme. Eighteen Wright StreetDecks with high-specification interiors were purchased for the service. First South Yorkshire also operate

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...

services 271 and 272, from Sheffield, across the South Yorkshire boundary and into

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

in the Peak District. In 2021, a double-decker bus was branded in green 'Peak Link' livery for these services.

Fleet

As of May 2017, First South Yorkshire's fleet consists of 496 buses. Following the First South Yorkshire and Midlands merger in 2020, new liveries and brands were introduced for the First Sheffield and First Doncaster fleets. The first to be introduced was ''Doncaster's Clever Buses'' in August 2020, utilising eight acquired

Volvo B7RLE The Volvo B7RLE is a low-entry single-deck bus chassis manufactured by Volvo. It was superseded by the Volvo B8RLE in 2013. Specifications The Volvo B7RLE is similar to its predecessor, the B10BLE. In essence the B7RLE is the front section of t ...

Wright Eclipse Urban The Wright Eclipse is a low-floor single-deck bus body that was built by Wrightbus between 1999 and 2019. The second-generation Eclipse 2 was launched in 2008, followed by the third-generation Eclipse 3 in 2015. The Eclipse, and its sister desig ...

buses on the 66 route in Doncaster, with the 'clever' aspect of the name referencing new

contactless payment Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smart cards, or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices, that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near-field communication (NFC, e.g. Samsun ...

systems that were being introduced across the fleet. In December 2020, two new liveries to be applied across the Sheffield and Doncaster fleets were revealed. The new First Sheffield livery is predominantly blue and cream with chrome elements referencing Sheffield's steel heritage, with some buses carrying livery variants referencing Sheffield's

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

and music heritage. First Doncaster's new livery follows a similar layout with red and cream with purple elements. Both liveries reference the former liveries of Sheffield and Doncaster's municipal bus companies before they were absorbed into the

South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive The South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive is the passenger transport executive for South Yorkshire in England. It is supervised by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, which consists of representatives from the metropolitan b ...

in 1974.

Depots

First South Yorkshire vehicles operate from two depots. These are Olive Grove in

, and Leger Way in

. Sheffield's Olive Grove depot is the second biggest bus depot in the UK after First Glasgow's Caledonia depot, which can hold 450 buses. As of May 2017, 318 buses are based at Olive Grove depot. Bus services in

and surrounding areas were previously operated out of the former Midland Road depot in east Rotherham. Having previously been contracted with refurbishing over 200 of

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus se ...

AEC Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport Executive, London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The ...

s when operated by South Yorkshire Transport, the engineering works of this depot was used as the FirstGroup's Commercial Unit following the company's purchase in 1998. Buses and coaches across the group would be sent to the Midland Road works for refurbishment, repairs and repainting. In 2016, however, it was announced that the depot and Commercial Unit were to close in February 2017, with Rotherham's bus services being relocated to Olive Grove and Leger Way depots. At the time of closure, 90 buses were based at Midland Road.

References

External links

Company website
{{FirstGroup Bus transport in Doncaster Bus operators in South Yorkshire Bus transport in Sheffield FirstGroup bus operators in England Rotherham