ONE lucky York bus passenger will today receive a special prize for taking the two-and-a-half millionth journey on the city's controversial "superbus".

The ftr buses have been derided as "purple people eaters" and "a massive waste of money" but bus company First has joined forces with Barnitts to provide £350-worth of modern kitchen appliances to be presented to a woman from Acomb who made the winning journey on Wednesday.

The lucky winner unwittingly scooped the prize as she was travelling to an out-of-school club with her son.

A First spokesman said: "We are glad to celebrate this landmark passenger number by making the day of one of our customers.

"It is great news that some two-and-a-half-million people have enjoyed the experience of travelling on the ftr and we look forward to many more millions travelling on it in the next few years."

The two-and-a-half millionth customer number in its first 18 months of service is a significant success for the trouble-hit ftr project, run in partnership by First and City of York Council.

Since the project was launched in May 2006, the number of passengers using the ftr has risen 28 per cent compared to the number of people who used to travel on regular buses on the equivalent Service 4 route before the ftr was implemented.

Twelve of the purple vehicles, each costing more than £300,000, travel the 7.66km Service 4 route between Acomb, York city centre and the University of York.

The route serves 18,000 households, as well as 3,500 students at the university.

The service was initially trouble-hit after its launch last May, with electrical faults and problems with ticket machines among the complaints from customers.

Many said they were unaware that ticket machines needed the right change - which caused queues as people were caught unawares at the bus stop and had to fumble to find it. Others said visitors to York would not know the correct change was required.

But "hosts", or bus conductors, were introduced on the service earlier this year and the ftr was recently given the official seal of approval by the latest batch of independent customer research figures.

Nine out of ten customers rated their last journey "good or better" and punctuality had improved, according to the 200 ftr customers who were questioned as part of the survey.

First has now begun to run the ftr in Leeds and is looking to implement a similar scheme in South Wales.


ftr - a history lesson

* May 8, 2006: ftr launched in York. Press reporter travels on new bus, and finds ticketing system out of order, but most passengers give it a positive reaction* May 10, 2006: Our letters page is inundated with complaints. Two buses taken off the roads because of faults. Transport secretary Douglas Alexander arrives in York to take a look at new buses - but maintains he is "impressed" * May 12, 2006: Acomb residents are furious about new, larger ftr bus stops which reduce on-street parking * June 9, 2006: One ftr inspector is attacked by a passenger in a row over tickets. * August, 2006: Blind and disabled people criticise ftr, saying it contains more hazards for them than old buses * October 19, 2006: ftr bosses admit ticket machines are service's "Achilles' heel", and consider bringing back conductors * December 19, 2006: We reveal cost of ftr to the council has now soared to £1.5 million. * February 14, 2007: First York boss Peter Edwards says service has "turned a corner" after a survey showed its passengers were increasingly happy with service * June 7, 2007: Bill to taxpayer for ftr rises by another £79,000 - for extra staff fees not included in original estimates - taking the total cost of infrastructure improvements to £1,638,000.

* September 10, 2007: In independent research, nine out of ten people rate service "good or better"