The future of public transport
Our vision is to transform travel. We believe that to attract more people to use public transport we need to look at the way we travel in a new light and bring superior vehicles to our towns and cities. The introduction of ftr is part of realising this vision.
The ftr is a new concept in public travel developed in close consultation with current and potential customers. It aims to deliver the high quality of a tram with the flexibility of a bus. The state-of-the-art vehicles are stylish and comfortable, offering a smoother ride. They also use Customer Service Hosts who travel on each vehicle and can assist speedy boarding, answer travel enquiries and issue tickets. A real time information system tracks the location of the vehicles and gives traffic light priority to help them run on time. This technology also gives customers details of when the next ftr is due. We now operate ftr schemes in two cities with a further scheme due to start operations in Spring 2009.
The ftr in York
In May 2006 the first ftr scheme was launched on the busy service 4 route in York in partnership with City of York Council. Twelve vehicles are now operating the service and since the original ftr scheme was launched passenger numbers have increased by 28%. The latest independent customer survey indicated that 94% of ftr customers (a 3% increase on the previous survey) rated their most recent journey as good, very good or excellent. 7% of customers now use the ftr for journeys they previously made by car.
Launching the ftr in Leeds
In August 2007 the ftr concept was brought to Leeds in a partnership between First, Leeds City Council and Metro. Since the launch of the project the number of passengers using the ftr has increased by 10% compared to the number of people who travelled on the same route before the introduction of the ftr. The first customer survey in Leeds indicated that 97% of customers rated their most recent journey as good, very good or excellent compared to 91% before the ftr service was launched. 8% of customers now use the ftr for journeys they previously made by car. First has invested £5.4 million in 17 vehicles, retrained 50 staff to drive the vehicles and created 47 new jobs as customer hosts to assist customers and collect fares.
The future in Swansea
The next ftr scheme is planned for Swansea. Introduced in partnership with local councils, the scheme is planned to launch in spring 2009. This scheme will be supported by guided bus ways running across the entire city to ensure service performance can be maintained.