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About us
On the 28th February 2025, RATP Dev Transit London joined First Bus and is today known as First Bus London. This strategic move brings together two organisations with shared values, a focus on colleagues, and a proven track record of operational excellence.
First Bus London is one of the largest bus operators in London, running 982 buses and carrying some 180 million customers every year safely to their destinations.
We run 83 routes in and around the capital, mostly under contract to Transport for London (TfL), the capital’s transport authority. TfL has ‘ownership’ of all bus routes in London and awards them to bus operators through a competitive tendering process, usually for a term of seven years.
We run our bus routes from 10 operational bases. Many of our bus routes are 24-hour operations and most run seven days a week.
As well as daily commuters, our diverse customer base includes shoppers, tourists, visitors to London, school children and people travelling to hospital appointments. Our uniformed, knowledgeable drivers are trained to recognise the special travel requirements of all customers, and this can include wheelchair users, the partially sighted, people with a hearing impairment, and visitors to the capital who do not speak English and are lost.
We are highly supportive of ‘green’ transport solutions and look for ways of reducing the impact our operations have on the environment, with over 37% of our in-service fleet now being fully electric.
We currently operate 21 electric routes from six converted garages, and we are working towards a fully electric fleet by 2030. This is in line with the Mayor of London's ambitious plans for a zero-emissions bus fleet in the capital by 2034.
Key facts
On behalf of Transport for London, all our colleagues, including drivers, controllers, engineers, and support teams, work together to deliver a safe and reliable bus service for our passengers.
3700 employees
180 million passenger trips each year
83 bus routes
982 buses
10 garages
> 37% of our fleet is zero-emission
First Bus London through the years
1903 - 1907
- 1903 - Fulwell Garage was originally built as a tram depot for United Tramways. It was the largest and greatest in London, with 18 tracks.
- 1907 - Shepherd’s Bush Garage opens
1913 - 1931
- 1913 - Original Hounslow Garage opens
- 1925 - Original Edgware Garage built
- 1931 - Fulwell was the first London garage to receive Trolleybuses
1935 - 1962
- 1935 - The last trams operated from Fulwell Garage
- 1954 - Newly built Hounslow Garage opens
- 1962 - Last Trolleybus runs out of Fulwell to give way to double decker Routemasters and single decker buses
1980 - 1986
- 1980 - Stamford Brook opened as a bus garage
- 1984 - New Edgware Garage opens
- 1986 - Hounslow Heath garage opens
1989 - 1995
- 1989 - London United becomes a subsidiary of London Buses
- 1994 - Harrow Garage opened
- 1994 - Borehamwood Travel & Sovereign merge as Sovereign London
- 1995 - London United purchased Westlink
1999 - 2002
- 1999 - London Sovereign move into Edgware Garage
- 2000 - First on-bus CCTV cameras fitted
- 2002 - Tolworth Garage is built
2007 - 2014
- 2007 - Park Royal opened as a bus garage
- 2011 - RATP Dev purchased London United Busways Ltd
- 2014 - London Sovereign joins RATP Dev
2018 - 2022
- 2018 - RATP Dev London launches its first two electric bus routes, operating from Shepherd’s Bush Garage
- 2021 - Electrification of 3 additional garages: Harrow, Fulwell and Hounslow Heath
- 2021 - Joint venture with Tower Transit Westbourne Park Garage, resulting in the fifth electric garage
- 2022 - Edgware becomes our sixth electric garage
2023 - 2025
- 2023 - Opening of our four state-of-the-art operational control centres
- 2023 - Launch of award-winning Garage Life Recruitment Programme
- 2024 - The Westbourne Park Garage won the Top London Bus Garage award at the UK Bus Awards
- 2024 - The Garage Life Programme: Winner at the European Talent in Mobility Awards in Strasbourg
- 2025 - FirstGroup acquires RATP Dev Transit London and becomes First Bus London
Leadership team
Janette Bell
First Bus Managing Director
Colin Brown
First Bus Managing Director B2C
Bill Cahill
First Bus London Managing Director
Bill Cahill - Managing Director, First Bus London
Bill Cahill is the Managing Director of First Bus London, bringing with him over 40 years of experience in the public transport industry, specifically in the bus sector. In the UK, key positions have included General Manager of our Stamford Brook Garage, Managing Director of the former Airlinks services and Operations Director of National Express. In 2008 Bill moved overseas, taking up the position of Managing Director of Serco Bus Dubai, where his remit was to develop bus services. Over the course of the next 13 years, Bill not only played a major role in developing surface transport in Dubai but also in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Oman. Bill is an outstanding leader and has had much experience in steering public transport operators to meet tough business objectives. He is passionate about operational and engineering excellence to deliver customer safety. This is a major focus for him in his role at First Bus London.
Fiona Guthrie
HR Director & Deputy Managing Director
Fiona Guthrie – HR Director & Deputy Managing Director
Fiona’s career has spanned a variety of different sectors, including retail, construction and utilities, but her first love is transport. She worked for a number of years within road logistics in both HR and general management roles, in the UK and North America and then for five years in rail freight as HR Director responsible for operations in UK, France and Spain. As well as her expertise in HR leadership, Fiona brings with her a passion for improving customer satisfaction through continuous improvement, safety and working with colleagues at all levels.
Chris Tong
Engineering and Asset Director
Chris Tong - Engineering and Asset Director
Chris is a chartered mechanical engineer and worked for Transport for London for 23 years. His most recent position there was Chief Operating Officer (Engineering Directorate), where he was responsible for the day-to-day operation and delivery of 1600 engineers across multiple infrastructure projects and activities. He is a skilled leader and a dynamic problem solver, having had considerable success in transformation programmes involving multiple disciplines and stakeholders.
Andrew Parsonson
Finance Director
Andrew Parsonson - Finance Director
Andrew Parsonson is a chartered accountant and is the Finance Director at First Bus London. Andrew has years of experience in the finance industry, having led finance teams and projects across various industries. He originally joined First Bus London in April 2022 as Group Financial Controller and has been instrumental in defining and successfully delivering the finance strategy.
Amine Fellahi
Commercial Director
Amine Fellahi
Commercial Director
Prior to Amine’s appointment to the leadership team at First Bus London in September 2022, he worked at RATP Dev headquarters in Paris as Strategy Director. During his time in the French capital, he supported a number of subsidiaries, including RATP Dev Transit London, in a wide variety of tasks such as designing transformation plans, writing business development proposals, and creating five-year projections.
Jim Small
Operations Director
Jim Small – Operations Director
Jim Small brings a wealth of operational expertise to his role as Director of Operations at First Bus London, a position he took on in May 2025. Having started his career as a bus driver, Jim worked his way up through the ranks, gaining invaluable experience in frontline operations, resource management, and strategic leadership. As an Operations Manager, he played a pivotal role in optimising resources, ensuring that trained staff were always available, and setting high performance standards. His leadership helped steer his garage to become the most profitable among the company’s 10 London sites by fostering a culture of engagement and securing staff buy-in for key operational improvements. As General Manager of Bus Operations, Jim successfully led First Bus London’s first electric bus depot in London. He played a key role in managing infrastructure installation, coordinating vehicle delivery, and working closely with external stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition.