First Potteries is a bus company based in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement in Staffordshire and is surroun ...

operating services in North Staffordshire, England. It is a part of First Midlands and a subsidiary of

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland. Potteries_Motor_Traction_731_NEH_731W

First_Potteries_bus_60176_(V124_DND),_4_April_2009_(1)

The company began life as Potteries Motor Traction. As part of the

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of the National Bus Company, PMT Limited was created on 12 December 1986 when it was purchased by its management and employees. The team leading PMT's buyout were managing director Mike Moors, traffic manager Steve Ellis, chief engineer Barry Parkinson and company secretary Nigel Barrett. Expansion came quickly for PMT, and it had commenced operations outside its traditional North Staffordshire area a little over six weeks prior to purchase from NBC. On 25 October 1986, the day bus services in the UK were deregulated, a small outstation was established in the neighbouring town of

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

. This was followed by a venture into

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral ...

with the opening of a Red Rider outstation at Moreton on the

Wirral Peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to th ...

. A small operation in

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

commenced in 1988, followed a year later by the winning of tenders in the West Midlands. This led to vehicles being outstationed at a haulage company's yard in

Willenhall Willenhall is a market town situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands, England, with a population taken at the 2011 census of 28,480. It is situated between Wolverhampton and Walsall, historically in the county of ...

. On 6 February 1990, PMT purchased the Wirral,

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, south of Birkenhead, southwest of Runcorn and south ...

and

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

operations of

Crosville Motor Services Crosville Motor Services was a bus operator based in the north-west of England and north and mid-Wales. History On 27 October 1906, Crosville Motor Company was formed in Chester by George Crosland Taylor and his French business associate Geo ...

from the Drawlane Group. PMT was later purchased by Badgerline before they in turn merged with GRT Group and formed

FirstBus FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

was acquired through the purchase of ChesterBus in 2007. This business was integrated with the existing First Chester & The Wirral which already ran a network of services in these areas. The Chester & Wirral operations were sold to Stagecoach Merseyside in December 2012. First Potteries now operates mainly urban services in and around

Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme ( RP: , ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of ...

and the surrounding towns and villages. Route numbers change & some buses have been repainted in the new livery as well as

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio w ...

being provided free of charge on newer buses.

Liveries

The traditional colours of the PMT fleet were red and cream. During National Bus Company ownership in the 1970s and 1980s, poppy red and white livery was used. Following privatisation, the livery became red and yellow with the fleetname in a 'zipper' logo. Despite this, several variations were introduced to suit individual routes – Silverdale Shuttle and Bradwell Shuttle, which saw the red replaced with blue; Hospitalslink, a scheme used exclusively on a handful of minibuses and which was green-based; and Birches Head Townabout, again a minibus operation and which received a yellow and orange livery. Additionally, a pair of minibuses gained a purple and white and then yellow and black variant to promote the Ball Green to Tunstall service. In 1987 PMT purchased Turners of Brown Edge and until the late 1990s some vehicles in the fleet were painted into Turners Tudor Maroon and Cream to work the 8 Hanley-Brown Edge service, subsequently extended from Brown Edge to Endon. All these liveries have now been completely superseded by the

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.First Midlands (which consists of First Leicester and First Wyvern) with its group office at

Adderley Green Adderley Green is a village in Staffordshire, England. It is included in the township of Longton with the population at the 2011 census being listed under the Stoke Ward of Sandford Hill. It was a centre for mining activities in the 19th centur ...

. The

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's coun ...

and

area depots became part of First Manchester. These were subsequently sold to Stagecoach in 2012.

depot has been closed and has transferred vehicles and services to

. In October 2013 First Potteries took responsibility for First Midlands' depots in

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a populatio ...

and Worcester."First to break up SE & Midlands Region" ''Buses'' issue 703 page 6 October 2013

Fleet

As of March 2013 the fleet consisted of 185 buses. First Potteries received its first new buses in 8 years in 2014, when nine brand new Wright Streetlite Max MicroHybrid vehicles were delivered to Adderley Green depot. A tenth was delivered in 2015, which was the first bus within FirstGroup to have a Euro6 engine. Further new buses were bought in October 2016, with new Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 MMCs used on routes 21, 21A, 23 and 23A.

Depot

First Potteries operations are based in the

area of

. A small number of buses use an outstation in

References

External links

Company websiteStoke-on-Trent Bus Information website
{{FirstGroup Companies based in Stoke-on-Trent FirstGroup bus operators in England Transport in Stoke-on-Trent Potteries Urban Area

Liveries

Fleet

Depot

See also

References

External links