:''This article describes the bus group, for the Grampian Regional Transport bus company and successors/predecessors, see First Aberdeen''
GRT Group was a bus operating company in the United Kingdom from 1989 until 1995. It was formed when Grampian Regional Transport (GRT) was privatised. It went on to purchase a number of bus companies in England and Scotland. In April 1994, GRT Group was listed on the stock exchange, and in June 1995 merged with Badgerline to form
FirstBus
FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Grampian Regional Transport, the city bus operator in
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...
, Scotland, 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 o ...
. Motivation for the buyout was the 1988 announcement that the Scottish Bus Group was to be privatised, sparking fears that GRT could be acquired by a larger group and asset stripped.
The buyout was achieved on 20 January 1989. General Manager
Moir Lockhead
Sir Moir Lockhead OBE DHC (born 25 April 1945 in County Durham, England) is an English businessman. He was Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman of UK transport group FirstGroup. Originally a mechanical engineer, he left school (West Cornforth Sec ...
, together with four other managers, took a 51% stake in the new company, with employees holding 33%, and
Aberdeen Asset Management
Aberdeen Asset Management was an international investment management group, managing assets for both institutions and private investors from offices around the world. Its head office was in Aberdeen, Scotland. The company was listed on the Lon ...
and 3i the remaining 16%. At the time GRT had a fleet of 200 buses and 500 employees.Interview with Moir Lockhead ''Railway People'' 11 April 2006
GRT Group went on to purchase other bus operators in England and Scotland. In April 1994, it was listed on the stock exchange. In June 1995, GRT Group merged with Badgerline to form
FirstBus
FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Acquisitions
As GRT Holdings:
*
Midland Scottish
Midland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operating subsidiary of the Scottish Transport Group formed in June 1985 from part of W. Alexander & Sons (Midland) Ltd, and operated until 1991 when it was renamed Midland Bluebird Ltd.
Operation
F ...
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England ...
Leicester City Council
Leicester City Council is a unitary authority responsible for local government in the city of Leicester, England. It consists of 54 councillors, representing 22 wards in the city, overseen by a directly elected mayor. It is currently control ...
Scottish Motor Traction
Scottish Motor Traction (SMT) was founded in Edinburgh in 1905 by William Johnston Thomson. It operated buses in much of central Scotland. Aside from its traditional bus operations, it operated an air taxi service with a De Havilland Fox Moth b ...
Lowland Scottish
Lowland Scottish Omnibuses Ltd was a bus operator in south eastern Scotland and parts of Northern England. The company was formed in 1985 and operated under the identities Lowland Scottish, Lowland and First Lowland / First SMT, until 1999 whe ...
November 1994 (ex Scottish Bus Group)
Midland Scottish, Eastern Counties, Scottish Motor Traction and Lowland Scottish, were regional companies, with operating territories stretching over large areas comprising town and interurban services. The Northampton and Leicester operations were town based networks, like Grampian.
Livery
As GRT Group, the company had developed a form of corporate livery dictated by an arrangement of a horizontal and diagonal bands over a base colour. The colour scheme of the bands were derived from colours representative of the subsidiary company, while the base colour was chosen as cream. Lowland Scottish, however, opted to use yellow for its base colour. The companies retained their own version of a company logo. Some companies developed an alternate livery with a gold band for the introduction of new buses.
With the formation of FirstBus, the former GRT companies retained its corporate livery, with the individual company logos replaced with the company name in a new standard corporate typeface, along with a stylised ''f'' symbol representing FirstBus.