1974 to 1999 25 Years- MetroBus to FirstBus
23 December 1997 As FirstBus Group now also own rail franchises and Bristol Airport, FirstBus was renamed FirstGroup.
February 1998 Due to the new FirstGroup
name, all buses were now yet again renamed, First f names were now carried above the entrance
door and drivers cab window, with the company name applied in a
smaller fashion at the side of the door, under the cab window,
Calderline were now "First Calderline" York were now
"First York", Quickstep Travel now trade as "First
Quickstep" and Leeds City Link was renamed "First
Leeds". Kingfisher Huddersfield originally published
leaflets with the name "First Kingfisher Huddersfield"
but the simpler "First Huddersfield" was adopted on
vehicles. Bradford Traveller became "First Bradford
Traveller" but shortly afterwards the "Traveller"
was droped from the name.
FirstGroup introduced a new corporate livery. The new livery was
only applied to new buses which were either low floor or Double
deckers wih Euro II engines. The new Alexander Royale bodied
Volvo Olympians which were delivered to Leeds from October 1997
quilified for the new livery and buses were quickly repainted.
The first First livered buses to be delivered were more Scania
L113 Wright Axcess Ultralow bodied single deckers for Leeds and
Bradford
8451 shows the
latest type of vehicle for Yorkshire Rider. Many Wright bodied
Scania & Volvo single deckers have recently been purchased,
this example is used on the Superbus services which replaced the
Scania N113 single decks. The bus below shows one of the recently
aquired Atlanteans with the new "First Huddersfield"
fleetnames and the latest Huddersfield livery. The bus on the
right shows "First Quickstep" fleetnames.
March 1998 More new buses arrived in the shape of Wright Renown bodied Volvo B10Bs, these were delivered to First Bradford
16 March 1998 In Bradford the new First
livered and interiored double and single deckers were put to good
use, a new standard of service was launched "Sovereign"
was launched on the X6 service from Huddersfield to Leeds, this
new service was based on the earlier Flagship concept but with
higher promises, this service standard is now on various routes
across Bradford
April 1998 Yet more new buses arrived, the Plaxton Pointer was redesigned and a new Plaxton Pointer 2 body was carried on the latest Dennis Dart SLF delivery, the first few were delivered to First Calderline, later deliveries included the Plaxton SPD (Super Pointer Dart) which was almost the size of a full sized single decker and is stretching the limits of a midibus
July 1998 The Plaxton Beaver was also
redesigned and the new Mercedes Benz Vario chassis carried the
new Plaxton Beaver 2 body, 15 were bought for First Calderline
and carried first interiors, as they are not low floor, standard
Calderline livery is carried
October 1998 The new low floor
generation of minibuses arrived, the new Optare Solo is the first
minibus to have a low floor no step entrance, The 6 minibuses
carry First livery with "Quickstep" fleetnames and are
used on Otley & Ilkley services
2302 is one of six Optare Solos
October 1998 Gold Service was introduced in Halifax on the former Flagship services 508 & 576 plus local services 543/544, it was later extended
November 1998 The Scania L113 was replaced by the L94 so the latest batch of single deckers for Leeds carried the new Wright Axcess Floline body on the L94
1 March 1999 Earlier in the year the Government introduced a new rural bus grant to fund new services to run in rural areas, One of these services, the 900 runs between Huddersfield and Hebden Bridge, from May this route was operated by a brand new 14 seater Olympus bodied Mercedes minibus complete with wheelchair lift, another bus was introduced later in the year for Marsden local service 937
5 March 1999 The latest Dennis Dart SLF
delivery carried Alexander ALX200 bodies, these buses are now
operated in Halifax and York
April 1999 A small batch of Dennis Dart SPDs was aquired from Essex Buses for operation in Huddersfield
2 June 1999 More midibuses started to be
delivered with 12 Wright Crusader bodied Volvo B6BLEs, yet
another new type are operated in Halifax with First Calderline
3 June 1999 Delivery of 15 articulated
buses commenced today, the new Wright Fusion bodied Volvo B10LAs
carry 55 seating passengers with space available for up to 90
standing passengers. The first vehicle 1101 entered service on
the 5th July, the batch was completed by the 6th October. They
are used on route 1 between Holt Park, Leeds City Centre and
Beeston
One of 15 new Wright Fusion bodied Volvo Articulated buses is
shown on Infirmary Street in Leeds, whilst operating route 1
July 1999 Gold Service was introduced today in Huddersfield on services 340/369-374 Almondbury-LIndley corridor using First livered buses, also Quality Service was introduced on services 548/9 in Halifax, Quality services uses the newest buses in standard livery
14 August 1999 Optional Bus which was competing with First Leeds in Leeds ceased trading, services were withdrawn or taken over by Quickstep, Various Leyland Atlanteans were taken over from Optional and added to the Yorkshire Rider fleet they are now numbered 6457-6462, and a pair of Leyland Nationals were aquired numbered 1371/2
19 November 1999 8534 the final Leyland Leopard (except the rebodied ones at York) was withdrawn, it has hardly done anything based out at Todmorden for years after the rest of the batch was withdrawn
December 1999 After a period on loan a handful of Greater Manchester Atlanteans plus some former Yorkshire Rider Metrobuses were aquired.
Copyright West Yorkshire Buses Website 1999/2000, Some info is aquired from other sources, and is not my own info. Bus Fayre magazine and Badgerline and FirstBus handbooks have been used for exact dates and details. Thanks to Ivan Noble for copius information in relation to the History of Yorkshire Rider. Please do not copy any information contained in the History of Yorkshire Rider without specific permission. Full completion: April 08, 2000, Last revised: August 25, 2002.