- GRT Group
:"This article describes the bus group, for the Grampian Regional Transport bus company and sucessors/predecessors, see
First Aberdeen "GRT Group plc was a bus operating company in the
United Kingdom . Created in 1989 as a holding company to effect the buyout ofGrampian Regional Transport (GRT), it grew by acquisition and in 1995 merged withBadgerline to create FirstBus plc, forerunner to worldwide transport companyFirstGroup plc.History
The GRT Group was formed as a holding company to effect the purchase of
Grampian Regional Transport (GRT), the city bus operator inAberdeen ,Scotland , by its employees. This was achieved on 20 January 1989. [ [http://www.firstgroup.com/corporate/our_company/hq_history.php FirstGroup official site] company history page, accessed 10 September 2008] . At the time GRT comprised a fleet of 200 buses and 500 employees.Subsequently, the parent company GRT Group was listed on the stock market as GRT Group plc. The group grew by acquisition of some of the other newly privatised bus companies in the UK.
Acquisitions
*
Midland Scottish , September 1990
* Northampton Transport, October 1993
* Leicester CityBus, November 1993
* Eastern Counties [ [http://www.trinityhigh.co.uk/transport/return_to_northampton.htm Page detailing the history of Northampton Transport, detailing other GRT acquisitions] ] , July 1994
*Eastern Scottish , October 1994
*Lowland Scottish , November 1994Midland, Eastern and Lowland Scottish, and Eastern Counties, were regional companies, with operating territories stretching over large areas comprising town and interurban services. The Northampton and Leicester operations were town based networks, like Grampian.
Firstbus
In June 1995, GRT group plc merged with
Badgerline , another large UK bus group, to form FirstBus, launching a new corporate identity. In 1998 FirstBus becameFirstGroup plc.Livery
As GRT Group, the company had developed a form of corporate livery dictated by an arrangement of a horizontal and diagonal bands over a base colour. The colour scheme of the bands were derived from colours representative of the subsidiary company, while the base colour was chosen as cream. The companies retained their own version of a company logo. Some companies developed an alternate livery with a gold band for the introduction of new buses.
With the emergence of Firstbus, the former GRT companies retained their coroporate livery, with the individual company logos replaced with the company name in a new standard corporate typeface, along with a styilised "f" symbol representing FirstBus.
Moir Lockhead
Sir
Moir Lockhead had joined Grampian Transport as general manager in 1985 [http://www.railwaypeople.com/rail-news-articles/andy-milne-talks-to-moir-lockhead-chief-executive-of-first-group-1030.html Interview with Moir Lockhead by www.railwaypeople.com] , 11 April 2006] . He remained with the GRT Group and as of 2008 was Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman of First Group. In 1996 he was made an OBE for services to the bus industry, and in 2008 was knighted.ee also
*
List of bus operators of the United Kingdom References
External links
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