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First Bus

One of the "big five" — from Aberdeen to Cornwall, under a dozen local names

19local brands

1,045routes in our data

888buses tracking now

First Bus is the UK bus division of FirstGroup, and one of the largest operators in the country. Unusually, it rarely trades as "First Bus" on the street: instead it runs a family of city and region brands — First Leeds, First Bradford, First Halifax, First Glasgow, First Aberdeen, First Bristol, First Essex and more — each with its own local identity, liveries and route network.

What to expect

Coverage is strongest in a handful of city regions rather than spread evenly: West Yorkshire, Bristol and the West, Glasgow, Aberdeen, South Yorkshire, Essex and Hampshire are all First heartlands. In those cities First is often the dominant operator, running high-frequency core corridors alongside less frequent suburban routes.

Tickets and apps

First sells single, day and season tickets through its own app, and most of its regions accept contactless tap-on payment with a daily fare cap. Multi-operator tickets are usually available too where a local transport authority runs one, which can be better value if your journey mixes operators.

Tracking First buses

First publishes live vehicle positions to the national Bus Open Data Service, so its buses appear on our map in realtime across England, Scotland and Wales.

Local brands you can track

Aberdeen Berkshire & The Thames Valley Bradford Bristol, Bath & the West Buses of Somerset Essex Greater Glasgow Halifax Halifax, Calder Valley & Huddersfield Leeds Leicester Norfolk & Suffolk Portsmouth, Fareham & Gosport Potteries South & West Wales South Yorkshire Wessex, Dorset & South Somerset Worcestershire York

See First Bus on the live map How our tracking works

Fares, ticket ranges and network arrangements change — always check the operator's or authority's own website before travelling. Live tracking coverage depends on what each operator publishes as open data.