First Potteries Limited (formerly known as First PMT Ltd, and the successor company of Potteries Motor Traction) is a company based in Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...

 that operates buses in Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...

, Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

, Crewe

Crewe

Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...

, and in Chester

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

 and The Wirral through its sub-brand First Chester & The Wirral

First Chester & The Wirral

First Chester & Wirral is a division of bus operator First Manchester Ltd., running local bus services in and around Chester and the Wirral, north west England. The company is a subsidiary of FirstGroup plc, the largest bus operator in Britain....

.

History

The company began life as Potteries Motor Traction or PMT. As part of the government of the day's process of privatising the state-owned National Bus Company, PMT Limited was created on 12th December 1986 when it was purchased by its management and employess from NBC. 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 Limited, and indeed it had commenced operations outside its traditional North Staffordshire area a little over six weeks prior to purchase from NBC. 25th October 1986 - the day bus services in the UK were deregulated - had seen the establishment of a small outstation in the town of Crewe in neighbouring Cheshire. This was followed by a venture into Merseyside with the opening of a Red Rider outstation at Moreton on the Wirral peninsula. A small operation in Leeds commenced in 1988, followed a year later by the winning of tenders in the West Midlands. This led to vehicles being outstation at a haulage company's yard in Willenhall.

On 6th February 1990 PMT acquired the Wirral, Ellesmere Port and Chester operations of Crosville from the Drawlane Group but not the Manchester, Runcorn and Warrington operations of Crosville which were integrated into Drawlane's North Western/associated Bee Line Buzz Company divisions. PMT was later purchased by the Badgerline Group plc before they in turn merged with GRT Holdings plc and formed First Group PLC, this sale including Crosville's operations in Chester and Wirral.
First Potteries now operates mainly urban services in Stoke and surrounding towns, along with its network of services in the city of Chester through the purchase or ChesterBus in 2007. This business was integrated with the existing First Chester & The Wirral

First Chester & The Wirral

First Chester & Wirral is a division of bus operator First Manchester Ltd., running local bus services in and around Chester and the Wirral, north west England. The company is a subsidiary of FirstGroup plc, the largest bus operator in Britain....

 which already ran a network of services in Wirral and Chester before the purchase of ChesterBus.

Liveries

The traditional colours of the PMT fleet were red and cream. During NBC 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 exclusivley 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 yellow variant to promote the Ball Green to Tunstall service.

All these liveries have now been completely superseded by the standard First corporate 'barbie' colours (pink, white and blue). Just five buses remain in passenger-carrying service which were delivered during the days of red and yellow, the remainder having either been acquired second-hand and/or received in First's corporate scheme.

Administration

In 2010, First Group changed the management structure of First Potteries. The Staffordshire area operations are now part of First Midlands

First Midlands

First Midlands is a operating unit of First Group operating in the English Midlands. The unit was formed in 2008 with the merger of the management and administration of First Midland Red, First Northampton and First Leicester....

 (which consists of First Wyvern, First Northampton

First Northampton

First in Northampton is a bus company which serves the towns of Northampton and Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, England. The legal name of the company is Northampton Transport Limited...

 and First Leicester

First Leicester

First in Leicester is the trading name of Leicester Citybus Ltd., a bus company owned by the First Group. It runs buses in the city of Leicester, England...

) with its "group" office at Adderley Green, Stoke on Trent. The Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

 and Merseyside

Merseyside

Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

 area depots however are part of First Manchester

First Manchester

First Manchester is one of the bus companies serving Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. It forms part of FirstGroup, a company operating transport services across the British Isles and in North America...

.

Although this has happened, the legal name/address remains First Potteries Ltd in Adderley Green, Stoke-On-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...

, whereas for the Chester and Wirral operations it is now First Manchester, Wallshaw Street, Oldham.

Update: The legal name is still First Potteries Ltd but the address is now based out of the regional head office at Chelmsford, Essex.

Crewe depot has now shut and has transferred vehicles and services to Newcastle depot. Newcastle depot has accepted planning permission to build a new depot at Milehouse in Newcastle, work is yet to start.

List of routes

This is a summary of First services in Stoke on Trent and local surrounding areas. Note: This list is not yet completed.

No.	From	To	Via	Depot	Notes
1	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Longton Longton, Staffordshire Longton is a southern district of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and is known locally as the "Neck End" of the city. Longton is one of the six towns of "the Potteries" which formed the City of Stoke-on-Trent in 1925.-History:...	Bentilee Bentilee Bentilee is a suburb and housing estate in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire situated between Hanley and Longton, and parallel with Fenton, Staffordshire.-History:... , Adderley Green Depot, Saxonfields	Adderley Green Depot	Purple Line
1A	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Coalville	Dawlish Drive, Adderley Green Depot, Defoe Drive|Parkhall	Adderley Green Depot	Purple Line
2	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Longton Longton, Staffordshire Longton is a southern district of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and is known locally as the "Neck End" of the city. Longton is one of the six towns of "the Potteries" which formed the City of Stoke-on-Trent in 1925.-History:...	Beverley Drive, Adderley Green Depot, Weston Park	Adderley Green Depot	Purple Line
3	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Badderley Green	Leek Road, Milton	Adderley Green Depot	Claret Line
5	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Abbey Hulton	Newhouse Road, Bucknall	Adderley Green depot
6	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Meir Park	Longton, Meir	Adderley Green depot	Green Line
6A	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Blythe Bridge	Longton, Meir	Adderley Green depot	Green Line
6B	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Blythe Bridge	Longton, Meir, Meir Park	Adderley Green depot	Green Line (Operates late nights and Sundays)
6C	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Meir Park	Sixth Form College, Longton, Meir	Adderley Green depot	Green Line (Operates on college days)
7	Kidsgrove	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Packmoor, Chell, Smallthorne	Adderley Green depot	Green Line
7A	Biddulph	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Brindley Ford, Chell, Smallthorne	Adderley Green depot	Green Line
7C	Biddulph/Kidsgrove	Sixth Form College	Chell, Smallthorne	Adderley Green depot	Green Line
8	Ball Green	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Norton, Smallthorne	Adderley Green depot	Beige Line
8A	Endon Fountain	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Brown Edge, Norton, Smallthorne	Adderley Green depot	Beige Line
8A	Brown Edge Schools	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Norton, Smallthorne	Adderley Green depot	Beige Line
17	Newcastle	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Bradwell	Adderley Green depot	Mauve Line
18	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Leek/Haregate	Sneyd Green, Stockton Brook, Endon	Adderley Green depot
20	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Crewe/Leighton Hospital	Tunstall, Kidsgrove, Alsager	Newcastle depot
20A	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Talke Pits	Tunstall, Kidsgrove, Butt Lane	Newcastle depot
21	Bradeley	Trentham	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn, Stoke, Hanford	Adderley Green depot
21A	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Trentham	Stoke, Hanford	Adderley Green depot
22	Newcastle Bus Stn	Longton	City General Hospital, Hanford, Trentham, Blurton	Newcastle depot
22A	Blurton	Longton		Newcastle depot
23	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Longton	Stoke, Fenton, Blurton, Newstead	Adderley Green depot
23A	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Blurton	Stoke, Mount Pleasant	Adderley Green depot
24	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Newcastle Bus Stn	Stoke, Penkhull, Hospital	Newcastle depot
24A	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Newcastle Bus Stn	Leek Road, Stoke, Hospital	Newcastle depot
25	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Keele	Stoke, Newcastle, Keele University	Newcastle depot
26	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Newcastle Bus Stn	Dividy Road, Brookwood Drive, Longton, Stoke	Adderley Green depot
26A	Coalville/Parkhall	Newcastle Bus Stn	Brookwood Drive, Longton, Stoke	Adderley Green depot
29	Fegg Hayes	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Bradeley, Smallthorne	Adderley Green depot
32	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Uttoxeter Town Centre	Werrington, Cheadle, Tean	Adderley Green depot
32A	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Uttoxeter Town Centre	Werrington, Cheadle, Alton Towers	Adderley Green depot
34	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Audley, Wereton	Newcastle Bus Stn, Chesterton, Wood Lane	Newcastle depot
34A	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Kidsgrove	Newcastle Bus Stn, Chesterton, Talke Pits	Newcastle depot
38	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Birches Head	Keelings Road	Adderley Green depot	This is a circular route
72	Clayton Village	Newcastle Bus Stn	Westbury Park	Newcastle depot
94	Newcastle Bus Stn	Audley	Silverdale, Park Site, Alsagers Bank	Newcastle depot
94A	Newcastle Bus Stn	Audley	Knutton, Silverdale, Park Site, Alsagers Bank	Newcastle depot
94B	Newcastle Bus Stn	Audley	A34 Buffet Island, Silverdale, Park Site, Alsagers Bank	Newcastle depot
96	Newcastle Bus Stn	Park Site	Silverdale	Newcastle depot
98	Newcastle Bus Stn	Ball Green	Wolstanton, Burslem, Norton	Newcastle depot
98A	Newcastle Bus Stn	Brown Edge Schools	Wolstanton, Burslem, Norton	Newcastle depot
99	Newcastle Bus Stn	Biddulph/Pennine Way	Wolstanton, Tunstall, Chell	Newcastle depot
99A	Newcastle Bus Stn	Mow Cope	Wolstanton, Tunstall, Kidsgrove	Newcastle depot
99B	Newcastle Bus Stn	Biddulph	Wolstanton, Tunstall, Chell	Newcastle depot
101	City Centre/Hanley Bus Stn	Stafford	Newcastle, Trentham, Stone	Adderley Green depot

N.B Details of routes are taken from First Potteries website.

External links

• First Chester & Wirral Homepage
• Stoke on Trent Bus Information website