First Aberdeen

Aberdeen Corporation

Aberdeen Corporation Tramways was formed on 26 August 1898. The company was renamed Aberdeen Corporation Transport Department when it became solely a bus operator with trams ceasing on 3 May 1958.

Grampian Regional Transport

Under local government reorganisation in 1975, the Aberdeen Corporation bus operations transferred to Grampian Regional Transport, a department of the Grampian Regional Authority.

To comply with the Transport Act 1985, Grampian Regional Transport was incorporated in 1986,^[1] with the Grampian Regional Authority retaining ownership.

In January 1989 the company was privatised under an employee stock ownership plan led by its general manager Moir Lockhead.^[2] At the time GRT operated a fleet of 200 buses and 500 employees.^[3]

Unlike future similar sales in the UK, the sale of Grampian Regional Transport was done voluntarily by the council which had no overall majority party and had no deep rooted objection to the sale. At the time, councils could negotiate privately with single buyers, rather than the later practice of competitive bidding. It was a sale of a going concern, rather than as seen in other areas in later years, a distress sale, or a forced sale for political reasons.^[4]

First Grampian

While the company continued to operate as GRT in Aberdeen, its holding company GRT Bus Group expanded through acquisition purchasing six former nationalised bus companies in England and Scotland. In April 1994 GRT Bus Group became a public limited company. In April 1995 FirstBus was formed through the merger of the Badgerline and GRT Bus Groups, with fleets in England, Wales and Scotland. Aberdeen was selected as the headquarters.^[5]

In February 1998 Grampian Regional Transport was rebranded as First Aberdeen.

Hydrogen buses

First Aberdeen were the world's first operator of double-decker hydrogen fuel cell buses, taking delivery of 15 Wright StreetDeck Hydroliners in late 2020. These were launched into service in January 2021, with most featuring turquoise branding for route 19, serving the suburbs of Peterculter and Tillydrone via Aberdeen city centre.^[11] Ten more joined the fleet in April 2022, bringing the total fleet of Hydroliners to 25.^[12] These buses are owned by Aberdeen City Council and leased to First Aberdeen, following on from a 'first phase' fleet of Van Hool A330 hydrogen single-deck buses purchased by the council and operated by both First Aberdeen and Stagecoach West Scotland between 2014 and 2020.^[13][14]

The first batch of StreetDeck Hydroliners were taken off the road in January 2022 due to a fault with a mounting bracket towards the rear of the bus, temporarily being replaced with Euro VI diesel buses loaned from First Glasgow.^[15][16] Following the replacement of the faulty bracket on each of the buses by Wrightbus, the buses began to return to service from April 2022.^[17] By July 2024, the entire Hydroliner fleet was being stored out of service at First Aberdeen's King Street depot due to a shortage in the supply of hydrogen fuel, shortly after fuel supplier BOC handed back the operations of a fuelling site in Kittybrewster to the City Council.^[18][19]

Despite a deal having been struck between the City Council and BP to support Aberdeen becoming a 'hydrogen hub', as a result of "significant advancements in electric vehicle technology" and an continuing lack of hydrogen fuel supply, in February 2026, First Aberdeen announced it was to withdraw its StreetDeck Hydroliners and hand them back to Aberdeen City Council for disposal, instead pivoting towards further deliveries of battery electric buses.^[13][14][20]