First Hampshire & Dorset is a bus operator providing services in the counties of Hampshire and Dorset. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History First Hampshire & Dorset was created out of various different smaller companies which were merged once FirstGroup had acquired them. In October 1995 FirstGroup purchased the bus services in Fareham, Gosport and Portsmouth operated by People's Provincial. In April 1996 FirstGroup purchased services in Portsmouth from Transit Holdings trading as Red Admiral & Blue Admiral, which in turn had taken over the Portsmouth CityBus operations under the title of Southdown Portsmouth. This operation was then put under the control of People's Provincial and the whole renamed to First Provincial. In 1997 FirstGroup purchased Southampton Citybus and after a brief period of using the Citybus name, the operation was renamed First Southampton. In 1999 First Southampton merged with First Provincial to form First Hampshire, later being renamed First Hampshire & Dorset. In 1999 FirstGroup purchased Southern National with its Dorset operations merged to form First Hampshire & Dorset in 2003. In 2010 The headquarters was moved from Portswood where Southampton Citybus was based to a new site in Empress Road by the River Itchen in Southampton, whilst the former depot was closed and sold off, ending 130 years of its purpose as a depot. In November 2022 FirstGroup announced that it's Southampton-based operations would be withdrawn, citing low patronage numbers and sustainability issues. The final day of its operations was on 18 February 2023. Divisions First Hampshire and Dorset operate within six different cities within the two counties and are grouped into the following divisions: First Portsmouth, Fareham & Gosport First Portsmouth, Fareham & Gosport run multiple different services within Portsea island and the Gosport Peninsula with the majority of the routes run using the Solent Branding. In this division there are 16 routes which are divided into routes in Fareham and Gosport and routes in Portsmouth. The routes in Fareham can cover from Sarisbury and Wickham to Portchester and Gosport. The majority of the routes in Fareham and Gosport either end or stop via Fareham. The routes in Portsmouth have destinations in Southsea, Eastney and Hilsea with some going into Waterloovile and Southampton. Their fleet ranges from ADL Enviro200 MMCs and Wright Streetlites to Wright Eclipse Geminis and Optare Solos. The Star The Star (stylised as THE STAR) is one of the brands that First Portsmouth,