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First York
Volvo B6BLE outside York railway station on service 1
ParentFirstGroup
HeadquartersTanner Row, York
James St, York (Depot)
Service areaYork
Service typeBus
RoutesRoutes Include York Park and Ride
OperatorFirstGroup
Websitewww.firstgroup.com

First York is the largest bus operator in York, England. It is part of First Group, a major bus and train operator with a turnover of nearly £2.5 billion a year and 62,000 employees across the UK and North America.[1] The York depot is in James Street, and maintains a fleet of 110 buses.

Fleet

A breakdown of the buses operated by First York is as follows:

2001 and 2002 were significant years, for they marked the arrival of the B7Ls, B6BLEs, B7TLs and Optare Solos - 98 new vehicles in the space of a two year period represented significant investment in the First York fleet. Many buses replaced over the years have been DAF SB220s, both step-entrance and low floor Dennis Darts, Leyland Olympians, Leyland Leopards, Leyland Nationals, Leyland Atlanteans, Scania L113s, Mercedes-Benz 709Ds. For a short while during 2006 First York operated Dennis Tridents from Somerset and also three Optare Solos before Veolia took over a few routes. A number of buses were cascaded to other First companies as newer buses arrived in 2008. The 9 Wright Eclipse Fusion bendibuses have also left the fleet and now operate in Leeds & Somerset. On 26 January 2009, 15 articulated Mercedes-Benz Citaros were introduced to First York's fleet.

Services

A Wright Crusader 2 on route 12

There are thirteen colour-coded Overground routes (numbers 1-13) which operate at weekday frequencies of between eight and thirty minutes, and a limited number of other services with less intensive frequencies.[2]

First York also operates the city's Park & Ride network

Between 27 February 2007 and 26 April 2009, First York operated a service linking the city with Leeds Bradford Airport. This was branded as service 120 York Aircoach/Airlink. It was based on a model and brand successfully used by Aircoach, a sister FirstGroup company operating to and from Dublin Airport.[3] 4 Volvo B10M-62 coaches previously operated by First Coaches and First Trafford Park were acquired for this operation. The coaches were fleet numbered 20461-4 registered X191-4HFB. All wore First Excel coach branding with additional "York Aircoach" branding applied. The service was later rebranded as "York Airlink 787" to recognise that coaches were replaced by standard fleet single deckers on the route. This airport route was withdrawn on 26 April 2009 due to low patronage.

Unlike First companies in many other cities the usage of route branding is somewhat limited on the York fleet. Apart from the heavily branded Park and Ride vehicles and the ftr's on route 4, few if any other vehicles carry route branding. In the past route branding existed on a number of routes including services 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12 and York Aircoaches.

Routes

First in York services are as follows

Route number Destination Notes & Alterative Services (Including other Companys)


1 Wiggington - Haxby- Huntington - York City Centre- Acomb Shops - Chapelfields
2 Rawcliffe Bar - York City Centre Park & Ride, Alternative Routes Transdev York 19B & 19L and Reliance Routes 40, 30 & 30X and Stephenson Routes 31 & 31X & John Smith & Sons Service 58 & in Summer Transdev York Moorsbus M15
3 Askham Bar - York City Centre Park & Ride, Alternative Routes Use Transdev York Service, 26 Or First York Service 12
4 Acomb - Foxwood - Dringhouses - City Centre - University - Heslington East Is Now Not Operated By SteetCar (FTR), Alternative Route Transdev York Service 26/26A/26C
5 Strensall - Huntington - City Centre - Leeman Road - Acomb - Beckfield Lane Alternative Routes From Acomb to City Service 1, 16 and 24/26, Service 20 to Huntington Via Poppleton, Clifton Moor, Haxby & New Earswick & To City Centre after Connecting to 19B/19L at Fulford Broadway.
6 Osbaldwick - City Centre - York Hosptial - Clifton Moor (Tesco) Evenings operates to Osbaldwick Village, For Alternative Routes in Osbaldwick use Transdev York Service 20 to Fulford Broadway and Connect to City Centre as Service's 19B/19L (Same Bus) and use Transdev York 20 from Osbaldwick to Clifton Moor Via Heworth, Monks Cross & Haxby.
7 York Designer Outlet - Fulford Road - City Centre Park & Ride, For Alternative Routes Use Arriva Service's 415 & 42
8 Grimston Bar - City Centre Park & Ride, Alternative Routes, Service 10 (First) , East Yorkshire, X4, 18A(Sundays), X46/X47, 747, 195, 196(Tuesdays) & Transdev York X36 & 10
9 Monks Cross - City Centre Park & Ride, Sundays does not serve Monks Cross Shopping part for alternative route from city Centre use Transdev York Service's 112 & 113
10/10A Stamford Bridge - Dunnington - City Centre - Poppleton Evening journeys provided by Transdev York, and One Early Morning Saturday Journey From Poppleton to Stamford Bridge Via Dunnington Common Road as 10A, & one Saturday Morning 10 From Stamford Bridge to York Rail Station, Both of These Journey's Do NOT service University Heslington East and are Operated By Transdev York.
11 Ashley Park - City Centre - South Bank - Bishopthorpe On Sundays & BH Transdev York Provide this Service as Route 112 to City Centre, it does not serve York Rail Station and Calls at Piccadilly then Rougier Street, and then Countinues to Monks Cross Via Clifton, Rawcliffe, Skelton, Clifton Moor, Wiggington, Haxby, New Earswick & Huntington.

Before Auguest 2011 Service 11 operated on Sunday's & BH to Station Road.

12 Haxby - City Centre - Acomb Park- Foxwood lane/Belhouse Way Now Runs to Foxwood lane
13/13A Monks Cross - City Centre - Copmanthorpe On Sundays Transdev York Provided this Route as Service 113, NO Service to Woodlands Grove
16 Acomb - City Centre On Sundays Runs to Ostman Road & Beckfield Lane Via Danebury Drive

York park and ride

Wright bodied single decker on Park & Ride route 3 at York railway station, in April 2008
Main article: York park and ride

York also has its own park and ride service, operated by First York. It was designed to relieve York's overcrowded car parks. These services form a large part of First York's high frequency overground network and are shown in the table above.

York Racecourse Shuttle

First York shuttle buses (Service 197) to and from York railway station and the racecourse on racedays only, starting at approximately 11:30 am from over the road from York's railway station, with the last bus departing the racecourse half an hour after the last race. This service is shared between First York and Transdev York.

FTR

Main article: FTR (bus)

In May 2006, First York became the first bus operator in the UK to introduce Volvo/Wright StreetCars as part of the 'ftr' scheme being trialled in the city. A partnership between First Group, Wright Group and City of York Council, ftr was marketed as a "truly groundbreaking service...the future of travel."[4] Eleven articulated StreetCars now operate on the number 4 route which links the University of York, the City Centre and the suburb of Acomb. Each bus could carry 42 seated and 71 standing passengers.

York ftr bus on Route 4

These buses contained a driving compartment separating the 'pilot'(i.e. driver) from the passengers, and used GPS satellite tracking technology to give traffic light priority to late running buses. Much was made in the marketing of the ftr of the ability to buy 'm-tickets' on mobile phones, and prepaid tickets which can be scanned by the ticket machines. However, the automated ticket system was a failure as there was a high incidence of technical problems, and the machines were taken out of operation and boarded over. As a result, First York was forced to employ further conductors ("customer service hosts").

The ftr scheme has been largely unpopular with people in York for a number of reasons, such as problems with ticketing, pricing, being late and being excessively long. Protests were especially heated among students and the York University Student Union was engaged in negotiations with First York to introduce student discounts. The University later discussed contracts with York Pullman, which is a smaller firm in the city and as a result of competition, the price of the ticket has dropped significantly.[5]

The ftr scheme led to extension of bus stop areas to accommodate the length of these vehicles, however in many cases this was done in contravention of the guidance given in the council's highway design document leading to ftr's blocking the road at keep left bollards, thus causing unnecessary congestion and frustration for other road users. In 2009 First replaced the ftr with conventional buses on evenings and on Sundays.

Following its success at the 2011 local elections, the controlling Labour group on the City of York Council has confirmed that the ftr buses will be replaced.[6] First agreed and the ftr vehicles will ran in York for the last time on 10 March 2012. They will be transferred to another First West Yorkshire service. Their replacements in York are 11 Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini (37246-56) from the Rotherham depot of First South Yorkshire.

See also

References

  1. ^ Stuart Martin, Bill Potter and David Donati (eds.), "2005 First Bus Handbook", page 5. British Bus Publishing, 2005
  2. ^ First York website - 6th April 2006
  3. ^ "Aircoach". FirstGroup. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
  4. ^ First Group's ftr website - 6th April 2006
  5. ^ Laycock, Mike (2 October 2010). "University of York backs new bus funding". York Press.
  6. ^ City leaders move to axe York's ftr buses" (The Press, York, 26 December, 2011)
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