First Essex operates four bus depots in the cities of
Colchester, and
Chelmsford, and the towns of
Basildon and
Hadleigh. The outstation at Great Dunmow has closed, with services transferring to Chelmsford depot.
Harwich depot was closed in late 2013; its services are now either run by Colchester depot or have changed operators to
Hedingham & Chambers. The Braintree depot was closed in late 2015; all of its services are now either run by
Stephensons of Essex (21, 30, 131, 132 - converted to 38/38A) or by the Chelmsford depot (70, 352).
Basildon (BN) Basildon garage operates routes: 1A, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, 9, X10
Essex Airlink (BN/CF Operated), 22 (BN/HH Operated), 25, 100, 200, 201, 251, 300 and school services 561 (BN/CF Operated) and 825.
History Basildon depot is located on Cherrydown East, near to
Basildon railway station. It was opened by
Eastern National in 1961 to replace premises at Bull Road,
Vange. After
Brentwood depot closed in 1995, Basildon ran the Brentwood town services until 1998, when they were transferred to
Harold Wood depot. When
First London took over Harold Wood in 2004, Basildon again took on the Brentwood town services until 2012, when Chelmsford acquired the Brentwood services with the 351 and 73 (Basildon renumbered the 551 to service 9). In April 2022 First shook up Basildon's routes with the introduction of the Basildon Shuttles with a ceremony held on the 21st April 2022. This withdrew the old routes 5,5A,5B,8,& 8A with brand new B1, B2, B3, B4, B5. - The B5 was withdrawn between Basildon Town and Pitsea via Barnstable with the 28 being rerouted via this way instead some time in late 2023. Later it came back in a form of a car park shuttle between the Town Centre & Festival Leisure replacing a
NIBS route 21 some time in late 2024. - These routes mainly run along the lines of the withdrawn routes. First promised a 'Simpler network, smarter buses with better reliability' and late night running into the night . E12 (65165) at Pips Hill,
Basildon operating a 300 service to Basildon in September 2025 A £30.6 million project was undertaken to become Essex's first fully electric depot with the funding help of the ZEBRA-2 scheme giving £4.8 million and First Group giving £25.8 Million. The garage has since been fitted with electrical gantries using 360KWH chargers and Heilox Flex 180 units around the site. Completed in the summer 2025 with the capacity of being able to store 78 EVs fitted by Janus Architecture - a company that installs new electrical charging infrastructure - , this in turn converted the depot from diesel to electric power. Because of this 55 new electric buses constating of 31
Yutong E12 singles & 24
UDD11 double deckers were brought by First Bus in July 2024 within a larger deal of 169 buses for places such as
Taunton &
Weston-Super-Mare.The new electric buses came into service in late Sept of 2025.
Chelmsford (CF) Chelmsford depot operates routes: C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8, C9, C10, C11, C12, C57, 3 (CF/HH Operated), 4, X10
Essex Airlink (BN/CF Operated), 13/A/B, 14, 19/A,
X30 Essex Airlink, 31, 37, 42A, 46, 47, 59 (Sundays), 70, X70, 71 (CF/CR Operated), X71, 73/A/B, 80A/C, 170, 331, 332, 333, 336, 351, 370, 371 (CF/CR Operated), 375, 407, 417 and school bus services 525, 561 (BN/CF Operated), 570, 620, 625 and Park & Ride services 700, 702 37 & 80A/C (Sundays Only) are Brentwood town services. 4, 14, 407 & 417 are Harlow town services.
History When the old Duke Street bus depot/bus station was demolished in autumn 2004, operations moved to a new site at Westway. The site was redeveloped, with a new and much reduced bus station opening in March 2007. Chelmsford had outstations at
Great Dunmow and
Maldon until 2004. Maldon had previously been a full depot until 1993, with the MN code. On 20 October 2013, Chelmsford took over the operation of route 888
Luton Airport shuttle from
First Northampton. From its opening in 2007 until 2022, it had been the operator of the
Chelmsford Park and Ride service; the contract was lost to Vectare (Central Connect). In August 2025
Essex County Council announced plans to cut the £11 Million funding to keep routes such as C3, C8 & C11 but this wasn't just exclusive to these routes as many others operated by First are under threat like the B2 in
Basildon for instants. This was followed by a public consultation that happened between August the same year to October 2025. The results of the consultation haven't yet been finalised.
Colchester (CR) Colchester depot operates routes "Colchester Shuttles" Brand & First. In 2022, First Essex announced the withdrawal of many routes to introduce the Local 5's branding, Colchester operates the following services as part of Colchester 5's. 51, 52, 53 (merge of S3 and S9), 54, 56, 57 and 58. Services S5 & S10 were added in 2024. Colchester operates the following as part of the Essex Bus brand, with services 370, 371 and X71 being shared with Chelmsford Depot. 1A (Sundays & evenings), 2A (Sundays & evenings), 15 (peak times), 16A (school days),
X20 Essex Airlink, 50/A, 67, 68 (evenings), 69/A, X71, 75, 79, 85, 86, 87, 88/A/B, 92, 102 (Sundays and Evenings), 104, 320, 370, 371, 694 (school days)
History The garage in Quayside is the main garage in Colchester. It was built in 2016 to replace the old garage on Queen Street, which was on the site of the Theatre Royal that burned down circa 1917. Buses were kept in the old Colchester Corporation tram shed at Magdalen Street after it was vacated by
Network Colchester in 2006. This ceased in July 2009 when the yard next door was used instead, also previously occupied by Network Colchester. First had another Colchester site at Haven Road, which was mainly used for engineering. This has since been bought by a local company that is not transport orientated; in 2015, First demolished the old timber yard (its former use) and built a new bus garage. Until 1973, Eastern National had a one bus outstation at
West Mersea, acquired from Primrose Bus Service in 1935. The building there survive, but, in 1979, it was heavily modified to become part of a new leisure centre. Service buses still terminate outside and locals still refer to it as
West Mersea bus station. Until 1969, Eastern National also had a one bus outstation in Victoria Place,
Brightlingsea. This was acquired with the business of Berry & Sons in 1937.
Hadleigh (HH) Hadleigh garage operates routes: 3/A (3 being CF/HH Operated), 4/A, 7/A (Evenings), 20, 21/C, 22 (BN/HH Operated), 26, 27/A, 28, 63 and school services 21S and 827.
History Hadleigh garage is located on London Road, just west of Hadleigh shopping centre. It is a former Westcliff on Sea Motor Services depot, controlled by Eastern National from 1955. Hadleigh took on the work of Canvey (CY) depot in April 1978. Canvey has since become a transport museum. Hadleigh further expanded its operations in 1992, after Southend (Prittlewell, PL) depot was closed. The predecessor of Prittlewell, Southend (SD) depot on London Road, closed in 1987 and has now disappeared under a Sainsbury's store. ==Former depots==