First Stop Travel is a bus company that operates in mainly in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Govan in Glasgow as well as other parts of South West Glasgow. Its only depot is on Clyde Street, Renfrew near the Renfrew Ferry. A bus is a large wheeled vehicle, intended to carry numerous persons in addition to the driver. ... Paisley is: the name of several towns, including Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland (the original Paisley) Paisley, Florida, United States Paisley, Oregon, United States the name of a textile pattern or motif, often referred to as Paisley Pattern. ... Renfrewshire (Siorrachd Rinn Friù in Gaelic) is one of 32 unitary authority regions in Scotland. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Glasgows location in Scotland Glasgow (or Glaschu in Gaelic) is Scotlands largest city, situated on the River Clyde in the countrys west central lowlands. ... Glasgows location in Scotland Glasgow (or Glaschu in Gaelic) is Scotlands largest city, situated on the River Clyde in the countrys west central lowlands. ...

Initially founded as the Govan Minibus Company after bus deregulation, it provided strong competition to Strathclydes Buses in the Govan area by operating cheaper minibuses instead of Strathclyde's then full size buses. Strathclyde countered the threat with minibuses of their own known as 'your happy buses'. This was the first round of the Paisley Bus Wars with many competing companies challenging for routes. This threatened to send large companies under including Clydeside, which later became Arriva Scotland West. The bus wars failed to stop the progress of the company which was competing on a number of key routes with Strathclyde. After First Group purchased Strathclyde's Buses, Govan Minibus Company lost its operating licence as VOSA revoked it. The company changed direction away from mini-buses and was re-opened as First Stop Travel usually shorted to F.S.T. First Group PLC is a British transport company operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland and North America, with headquarters in Aberdeen in Scotland. ...

The company still had a large patronage on the former Govan Minibus Company routes and exploited this by running many services in competition with First Glasgow and Arriva. Gibson Direct another Paisley company accepted a number of SPT contracts in 2004, and was unable to continue its competition with Arriva on the busy 21 route linking Paisley, Renfrew, Braehead and Govan and thus the buses and route passed to FST. This was FST first route in Renfrew, especially unusual since their depot has been based in the town for some years! This also saw an influx of modern buses and a move to proper albeit small buses rather than mini-buses. First's service cuts in 2005 saw FST become the only operator on the key Paisley, Penilee, Govan corridor, a route that was well patronised and run using double deckers with First as well as the Nitshill-Govan service and the only operator at night that links Braehead and Penilee. An Arriva bus arriving at Telford Central An Arriva train in North Wales Arriva is a private company that runs public transport services throughout the United Kingdom. ... SPT is an abbreviation for the following: Shortest path tree Sony Pictures Television Space Preservation Treaty Stationary Plasma Thruster Strathclyde Passenger Transport Super Powered Tracer from the Anime SPT Layzner This page concerning a three letter acronym is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might... Paisley is: the name of several towns, including Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland (the original Paisley) Paisley, Florida, United States Paisley, Oregon, United States the name of a textile pattern or motif, often referred to as Paisley Pattern. ... Renfrew (Rinn Friù in Scottish Gaelic) is a small town and former royal burgh in the Renfrewshire region of Scotland (see main article on the town of Renfrew, Scotland). ... Braehead is a regeneration project in Renfrewshire, Scotland, comprising an indoor shopping mall, Curling facilities, the Clydebuilt maritime museum, and the Braehead Arena (along with extensive covered and open-air car parking). ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Paisley is: the name of several towns, including Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland (the original Paisley) Paisley, Florida, United States Paisley, Oregon, United States the name of a textile pattern or motif, often referred to as Paisley Pattern. ... Penilee is a small housing scheme and suburb on the southwestern edge of Glasgow, Scotland. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

In August 2005 due to reported ill-health of the founder, the Port Glasgow company Slaemuir Coaches aquired the operation, but it is still being run as First Stop Travel on a day to day basis. The link with Slaemuir makes it one of the largest independants in the West of Scotland. Port Glasgow is a burgh in Inverclyde, Scotland on the River Clyde. ...

The Vehicles

The vehicles tend to be liveried in FST's Red, Grey and White livery with a few exceptions. The fleet has always had slogans with the FST logo, a driver raising his hat, on the back of it's buses. Examples are "Martin says Hop on Babe", "Chris says were on time", "Dave says he ain't heavy" and such.

The fleet is based around the Dennis Dart with some Mercedes Minibuses. Most vehicles are elderly dating from 1990's however newer disabled access low floor Marshalls and Dennis Darts have been added. These vehicles lower the fleet age profile as they date from 1997 to 2004. The average estimated age of the fleet is 10 years. The licence allows for over 30 vehicles to be run by the company.

Routes Operated

• Route 21 - Paisley - Newmains - Renfrew - Braehead - Linthouse - Govan
• Route 117- Paisley - Southern General Hospital - Govan
• Route 122- Paisley - Ralston - Penilee - Braehead
• Route 134- Govan- Mosspark - Shawlands - Battlefield - Victoria Infirmary - Crooftfoot - Castlemilk
• Route 135- Castlemilk Circular
• Route 149- South Nitshill - Pollok - Cardonald College - Bellahouston -Govan
• Route 217- Paisley - Ralston - Penilee - Govan
• Route 279- Ibrox - Govan - Linthouse - Southern General Hospital
• Route 289- Drumoyone Circular

External Links

• Traveline Scotland website listing First Stop Timetables]