ftrmetro Swansea was a bus rapid transit route in

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. The route was served by FTR

articulated bus An articulated bus, also referred to as a slinky bus, bendy bus, tandem bus, vestibule bus, stretch bus, or an accordion bus, is an articulated vehicle, typically a motor bus or trolleybus, used in public transportation. It is usually a ...

es in an attempt to relieve

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s, resulting in m ...

and provide alternative transport to cars, before they were withdrawn in 2015 in favour of smaller-capacity buses.

Overview

The

Welsh Assembly Government Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

provided £2.2m in funding to help launch the scheme, and the local bus operator

First Cymru First Cymru is an operator of bus services in South West Wales. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. With its headquarters previously in Swansea, it is now part of the First Wales and West region which also covers Bristol, Bath, Somerset, Bath and ...

paid for the fleet at a cost of £300,000 per vehicle. The buses, built by Northern Ireland-based Wrightbus, each had 37 seats. Stops were placed about every 500 m and passengers paid for tickets on-board from a conductor rather than from the driver. The bus ran along a route from Morriston Hospital to Singleton Hospital, via

Morriston Morriston (; ) is a Community (Wales), community in the City and County of Swansea, Wales, and falls within the Morriston (electoral ward), Morriston ward. It is the largest community in the Swansea county. Morriston is sometimes referred to ...

Swansea railway station Swansea railway station serves the city of Swansea, Wales. It is sited from Paddington railway station, London Paddington, via , on the National Rail network, although most services use a shorter route via . In 2023/24, it was the third-busies ...

, Kingsway, Swansea bus station, Civic Centre and

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

. The off-peak journey time between Morriston Hospital and

was timetabled to take 50 minutes. Alterations were made to a number of roads to provide a dedicated bus lane. Orchard Street and The Kingsway were converted to a one-way streets for cars with a separate two-way bus lane. West Way was altered to accommodate a two-way bus lane and new access roads were developed near the Civic Centre. Further road developments included a bus lane along parts of Oystermouth Road and a bus bypass road past the Hafod area. Phase 1 of the road development scheme, for Orchard Street and Kingsway, was completed. The service between Morriston Hospital and Singleton started on bus route 4, using a single ftr vehicle, on 1 June 2009 with official launch of service in September 2009. Critics of the scheme attacked the disruption caused by roadworks to accommodate the vehicles and the impact of changes to the road network. On 24 June 2015, First Cymru announced that it was to remove all FTR articulated buses from service on 28 August 2015, replacing them with standard single deck buses. Later in 2015, the dedicated two-way FTR bus lane on the Kingsway was removed and replaced by a standard one-way system, in response to high-profile accidents. Subsequently, three bendy buses were brought back into use, transferring students from the main Swansea University campus on Oystermouth Road to the new Bay Campus.

References

External links

First Group – ftrmetro Swansea (official site of operator)

City and County of Swansea – Swansea metro project

Video of Ftr Metro buses in Swansea in August, 2015
{{Authority control Guided busways and BRT systems in the United Kingdom Transport in Swansea 2009 establishments in Wales

Overview

See also

References

External links