First West of England

First West of England

Wright StreetDeck in Colston Avenue, Bristol in January 2016
Parent	FirstGroup
Founded	1875
Headquarters	Bristol
Service area	Bristol Bath Gloucestershire Weston-super-Mare Wiltshire
Service type	Bus services
Depots	6
Fleet	649 (March 2016)
Website	www.firstgroup.com/westofengland

First West of England (formally First Somerset & Avon) is a bus operator providing services in Bristol, Bath, Somerset, South Gloucestershire and West Wiltshire. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.

In 1875 George White formed the Bristol Tramways Company and began a horse-drawn service from Upper Mauldlin Street to Blackboy Hill. In 1887 the Bristol Tramways Company merged with the Bristol Cab Company to form the Bristol Tramways & Carriage Company, later the Bristol Omnibus Company.

In 1929 the White family sold out to the Great Western Railway who by 1932 had sold it to the Western National. In 1948 the company was nationalised, and in 1969 it became part of the National Bus Company.

In September 1983 the National Bus Company split the operation in two, with the Cheltenham and Gloucester Omnibus Company taking the services in Cheltenham, Gloucester, Stroud and Swindon. The remainder stayed with the existing Bristol Omnibus Company, divided into two business units: Citybus for services within Bristol, and Bristol Country Bus for services in Bath, Somerset and Wiltshire.

Badgerline was formed in 1985 as the business name of the Bristol Country Bus and in 1986 its assets were transferred to a separate legal entity and privatised in September 1986 in a management buyout.