In 1987, West Yorkshire Road Car Company was sold in a management buyout to the AJS Group, owned by former East Yorkshire Motor Services managing director, Alan Stephenson. Operations in York were subsequently rebranded as York City & District.
In 1990, the York-based operations of AJS Group were sold to Yorkshire Rider.[1][2] Four years later, Rider York was included in the sale of Yorkshire Rider to Badgerline.[3]
In 1995, First Group was formed, following the merger of Badgerline and GRT Group.[4][5] In 1998, Rider York was rebranded as First York. In the same year, First Group took ownership of Glenn Coaches, followed by York Pullman two years later.
In 2001, in advance of the launch of the York Metro bus network in September 2001, First York began a major fleet refreshment programme, taking delivery of a new low-floor fleet of 98 buses, including 12 double deckers, 53 single-deckers and 33 midibuses, replacing a majority of the company's pre-existing bus fleet.[6][7]
In February 2007, the company introduced an hourly express service between York and Leeds Bradford Airport, branded York Aircoach.[8] Initially operating with Volvo B10M coaches, the service was later revised to use single-deck buses and rebranded York Airlink. The service was withdrawn in April 2009.[9][10]
In April 2009, the company launched a half-hourly express service, which ran between York and Leeds via Tadcaster and Seacroft – competing with Transdev Yorkshire Coastliner. The trial was unsuccessful and the service was subsequently withdrawn in August 2010.[11][12]
In June 2014, the park and ride site at Askham Bar was expanded and relocated to a new 1,100-space site – as part of a £22 million project. In the same month, a new site was opened at Poppleton Bar, with services operated by a fleet of fully-electric Optare Versa EVs.[13][14][15]
In August 2015, First York commenced operation of a contract to provide services on behalf of the University of York.[16][17][18]
The operations of First York and First West Yorkshire were remerged into a First North and West Yorkshirebusiness unit on 1 October 2022, as part of major changes to the FirstGroup's senior management, which saw the merger of First's ten regional bus operations across the United Kingdom into six business units.[19][20] This business unit would later agree to purchase the operations of local independent bus and coach operator York Pullman in January 2024.[21][22]
ftr
For more information about the service, see FTR (bus).
In May 2006, the company took delivery of eleven articulated Wright StreetCar vehicles, branded in the two-tone purple ftr livery. They were introduced on the high-frequency 4 service, running between Acomb and University of York.[23][24] The scheme was largely unpopular with people in York for a number of reasons, including frequent problems with ticketing, pricing, punctuality, and the vehicles being excessively long.
Ahead of the introduction of the trial, bus stop areas had to be extended in order to accommodate the length of the longer, articulated vehicles. However, in many cases, this led to vehicles blocking the road and further adding to traffic congestion. In May 2009, the company replaced the articulated Wright StreetCar vehicles with standard low-floor vehicles during the evening and on Sunday.[25]
Protests were especially heated amongst students, with the University of York engaging in negotiations with the company – encouraging them to introduce discounted tickets for students. In 2010, York Pullman was awarded a contract to operate services on behalf of the University of York. Owing to competition from York Pullman, the price of tickets on First York's (now commercial) 4 service dropped significantly.[26][27]
Following their victory at the 2011 local elections, the controlling Labour Party on the City of York Council set about to ensure that the articulated vehicles were replaced.[28] In March 2012, the articulated vehicles operated in York for the last time.[29][30][31] They were replaced by a fleet of eleven Volvo B9TL/Wright Gemini double-deck vehicles from First South Yorkshire, while the articulated vehicles were transferred to First West Yorkshire and used on a service between Bradford and Leeds via Bramley.[32][33] The articulated vehicles were withdrawn entirely in July 2016.[34]
In partnership with the City of York Council, the company operates a network of park and ride bus services in the city. As of May 2022, there are six sites: Askham Bar, Grimston Bar, Monks Cross, Poppleton Bar, Rawcliffe Bar and York Designer Outlet. Following the introduction of a fleet of 21 fully-electric double-deck Optare MetroDecker EVbattery electricdouble-decker buses in July 2020,[35][36] as well as a fleet of 12 Optare Versa EVmidibuses introduced in 2014 and 2015,[37][14][38] which received new drivelines by Equipmake in 2023 following a prolonged period out of service,[39] the city boasts one of the largest zero-emission park and ride networks in the United Kingdom.[40]
As of May 2022, the company operates from a single depot on James Street in York.[citation needed]
Vehicles
As of October 2023, the First York fleet consists of in the region of 96 buses.[citation needed]
In March 2022, it was confirmed by the Department for Transport that the City of York Council had been awarded a total of £8.4 million to support the purchase of 44 fully electric buses in the city – investment which would bring First York's fully-electric fleet to 77.[42][43] These buses, in the form of 24 Wright GB Kitesingle-decks and 20 Wright StreetDeck Electroliner double-decker buses, began to enter service in York from late August 2023.[44][45] A further nine StreetDeck Electroliners were delivered in late 2023 for University of York bus services.[46]
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