FirstGroup has acquired Gloucestershire-based KB Coaches, adding 30 vehicles and a first presence in the county. It gives fleet operators a current example of consolidators buying home-to-school capability and local operating knowledge rather than building either from scratch.

FirstGroup runs a UK coach portfolio approaching 600 vehicles and employing more than 700 people across the UK and Ireland.

KB Coaches is a Stonehouse-based operator with 34 employees, focused on home-to-school transport, private hire and team travel for football clubs.

Transport manager Tom Weaver and operations manager Dean Francis will remain with the business, while owner Andy Francis retires. Existing services, contracts and bookings continue as normal.

Gareth Davies, managing director (coaching) for First Bus, said: "It brings something new to our coach portfolio, both in terms of geography and the markets it serves, and gives us a strong platform from which to develop our presence in the region."

Davies added: "A key part of our approach is preserving the local knowledge and relationships that make businesses like KB Coaches successful, while giving them access to the scale, expertise and investment of the wider First Bus business."

KB Coaches operations manager Dean Francis said: "Joining First Bus gives us the opportunity to build on those strong foundations, with the support and resources of a much larger organisation behind us."

The portfolio has grown through the acquisition of operators including Anderson Travel, Eagle Coaches, Hills Coaches, J&B Travel, Lakeside Group, Tetley's Coaches, Wilfreda Beehive, Matthews and York Pullman.

The deal lands in a segment under cost pressure. Routeone reported that more than 600,000 children travel to and from school by coach each day in the UK, and that 38 per cent of coach operators told the Confederation of Passenger Transport they were likely to hand back home-to-school contracts, as rising outgoings outpaced the rates paid.

Consolidation is widening. The Coach Travel Group formed in 2024 from seven regional operators, with about 450 vehicles and 232 school routes, while Go-Ahead's acquisition of Cheltenham-based Swanbrook took it past 400 coaches.

For the sector, buying small operators with school contracts and retaining their management signals that scale, not fleet size alone, is how groups hedge cost pressure in home-to-school work.

Source: FirstGroup / Routeone / Dealroom / CILT(UK)