He will take over the position from 1 November, following the announcement of Sir Moir Lockhead’s retirement from the transport group after 21 years at the top,
O’Toole joined FirstGroup in May 2009 as a non-executive director of the company’s board, before becoming chief operating officer of the group, and then deputy chief executive in June this year.
Before joining FirstGroup, O’Toole was the managing director of Transport for London and had been with the company since 2003. He had previously been the president and chief executive of Consolidated Rail Corporation, one of America’s rail networks.
Sir Moir Lockhead, chief executive, FirstGroup, said: "I am immensely proud to have been part of this journey and I know that under Tim’s leadership, the business will continue to go from strength to strength, providing safe and high-quality services for our customers and creating value for shareholders."
FirstGroup is a Ftse 250 company and a global public transport group. It operates the First trains and bus networks, including First Great Western and First Capital Connect services, with buses operating in London, Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh.
It spent £336,000 on UK advertising in the year to the end of July, most of which went on radio, according to Nielsen.
The group has an annual turnover of £6bn and employs more than 130,000 staff, with operations in the US.
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