2005 operating on route X51, which had left the fleet earlier in 2020. In Portsmouth, First bought several new buses between 2015 and 2020 to replace older buses running on these routes, with Wright Streetlite MAX buses being bought for the "Solent Rangers" routes which link Southampton with Portsmouth and Gosport to replace the Scania N94UB Omnicitys that covered the route in late 2015. ADL Enviro200 MMCs were bought for the Eclipse busway in 2016 to replace the Wright Eclipse 2s which were displaced and sent to Manchester. Enviro200 MMCs were purchased again in 2020 with start-stop technology for "The Star" routes to replace the older Wright Streetlite MAXs which had been running on the route before. These buses were transferred over to the Southampton division to replace the Wright Eclipse buses that were branded for route 3. In Southampton, First inherited a large number of Leyland Atlanteans from Southampton Citybus along with Leyland Lynxs, Leyland Olympians and gas powered Dennis Darts. All of these have now been withdrawn from the Southampton fleet. An unusual vehicle inherited from the Provincial fleet was the first ACE Cougar, one of just two built, which has also been withdrawn. First introduced a number of bus types that are also no longer in service in Southampton; these include Volvo B7LA / Wright Eclipse Fusion bendy buses introduced in 2000 but transferred to First Glasgow in 2003 after they proved unsuitable for a number of Southampton roads, former First Capital Dennis Arrows proved unpopular in Southampton and moved onto First Greater Manchester in 2006. First had operated Optare Solos on the free City-link service between Southampton Central Station, West Quay Shopping Centre and Town Quay, these left the Southampton fleet when First lost the City-link contract to Unilink, which subsequently became franchised to Bluestar in 2008. The fleet that remains in Southampton were all Wright Streetlite buses, with the last of the Wright Eclipse Urban-bodied Volvo B7RLEs transferring to First Wessex in August 2020 though in April 2021, First had introduced Wright Streetdecks into the fleet to improve service capacity. See also List of bus companies in the United Kingdom References External links First Hampshire First Dorset & South Somerset (Archived) First Southampton FirstGroup bus operators in England Transport in Dorset Bus operators in Hampshire