[PRESERVED] First Swansea 'ftr' 19000 - S90 FTR (YK06 CZN)

And now, a true First innovation I never got to experience. Before the York Citaros, there was the ‘ftr’ StreetCars. These were a innovation of 'bus rapid transit' (BRT) dreamed up by First in 2006 in order to bus travel faster and more attractive to the general public. For each service in York, Leeds, Luton Airport and Swansea, drivers - or shall I say, 'pilots' - of these StreetCars were separated from the main cab a-la tram/train/halfcab bus, with conductors being employed to facilitate the purchase of tickets. The stylistic differences carried on when passengers sat down, too: each bus had air conditioning, tinted windows, a so-called 'infotainment' system that functions like today's law-mandated audio/visual announcements.

 

So, what was the public's opinion of the ftr system? At launch in York, very hostile. After half of the major artery roads in York city centre had to be ripped up to accommodate the length of these buses, in their first week of service on the 4 to Acomb, 'one of the £300,000 articulated vehicles got stuck and blocked a major junction. Two of the 11-strong fleet were withdrawn with electrical faults. A broken-down vehicle blocked a dedicated lane and a leaking gas main threw services into disarray on Wednesday.' Ticketing proved problematic, and amid a dispute with university students over steep fares, passenger numbers were never high enough. By the middle of the 2010s, the concept was shelved across the group.

 

But that's just a glimpse at the York operation - I can't say much else about the Leeds and Swansea ftr systems. As for this, 19000 was the first vehicle of its type built for the FirstGroup fleet, having toured York in demonstrator service before settling down on the Swansea ftr for the rest of its operational life. Push comes to shove, somehow it ended up at the South Yorkshire Transport Trust. There is apparently a yard full of these things somewhere out there waiting to be sold... I don't know, I think there may be a very limited appeal for these!

 

A legendary vehicle for a legendary route network - though maybe not for the right reasons - preserved First Swansea 'ftr'-branded 19000, a 2006 Wright StreetCar bodied Volvo B7L new as a concept vehicle for the whole network and originally registered YK06 CZN, is seen stored outside the main warehouse of the South Yorkshire Transport Trust, albeit sans number plate.

Done