FirstGroup enjoyed a successful evening last night (2 October) at the National Transport Awards. The UK’s leading bus and rail operator came out on top as the most recognised private transport operator winning three awards across its UK Bus and UK Rail divisions.
Hosted by radio and television presenter Jeremy Vine, the awards attracted more than 600 senior transport professionals including the Transport Minister Claire Perry MP who gave the keynote address.
Commenting on the successes, Tim O’Toole said: “We were delighted to receive three National Transport Awards last night, more than any other transport owning group. These awards are testament to the hard work of our employees across our UK Rail and Bus divisions and we remain focused on continuing to build on this success.”
“I'd particularly like to congratulate Steve Montgomery and his team at First ScotRail on receiving the Rail Operator of the Year award. We are proud to operate Scotland's railway and the important role we played connecting people and communities throughout Scotland during this summer's celebrations. The judges were not only impressed by that but also by First ScotRail's introduction of the biggest programme of free Wi-Fi in the UK and their smart ticketing developments.
“Also in Scotland's largest city, I'd also like to congratulate our First Glasgow team, who were worthy winners of the Improvements to Bus Services award for their 'simpliCITY' network redesign. South of the border our team at First West of England were justly recognised with the Travel Information and Marketing Award for the 'Fare Hearing For Bristol' consultation which is making a real difference for our bus passengers in the city.”
On the same evening, First ScotRail and partners – including Transport Scotland – were named as Overall Winner at the ACoRP Community Rail Awards, for their combined work to deliver a joined-up Community Rail Strategy. First’s other UK Rail companies also enjoyed further success, with First Great Western being awarded the Innovation in Community Rail prize and outstanding teamwork award going to Devon Community Rail Partnership, First Great Western, Network Rail, Dawlish Town Council and all other partners for the rebuilding of Dawlish station.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
About FirstGroup plc
FirstGroup plc is the leading transport operator in the UK and North America with revenues of more than £6.7 billion. Our services help to create strong, vibrant and sustainable local economies. During the last year around 2.5 billion people relied on us to get to work, to education, to visit family and friends and much more and, each day, every one of our 117,000 employees works hard to deliver vitally important services for our passengers.
Each of our five divisions is a leader in its field: First Student is the largest provider of student transportation in North America with a fleet of around 49,000 yellow school buses, First Transit is one of the largest providers of outsourced transit management and contracting services in the US, while Greyhound is the only national operator of scheduled intercity coach services across North America. In the UK, FirstGroup is one of Britain's largest bus operators running a fleet of some 6,400 buses, and we operate four UK passenger rail franchises, carrying more than 330 million passengers a year.
Our vision is to provide solutions for an increasingly congested world, keeping people moving and communities prospering.
Contacts at FirstGroup:
Stuart Butchers, Group Head of Media
Tel: +44 20 7725 3354