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ftrmetro Swansea
An FTR bus travelling south from Ffordd y Gollewin towards the Civic Centre
Overview
Locale	Swansea
Transit type	Bus rapid transit
Number of lines	1
Number of stations	27
Operation
Began operation	September 2009 (2009-09)
Operator(s)	First Cymru
Number of vehicles	10
System map Legend Morriston Hospital (Main Entrance) Morriston Hospital (Outpatients) Heol Maes Egwlys Cwmrhydyceirw Chemical Road (North) Chemical Road (South) Sway Road Morriston Cross Woodfield Street Martin Street Parc Terrace Plasmarl (North) Plasmarl (South) Liberty Stadium Landore Hafod Railway station Orchard Street The Kingsway Quadrant Centre Civic Centre (via ramp) Civic Centre (via level access) The Slip St. Helen's Brynmill Lane Swansea University Singleton Hospital This diagram: view talk edit

ftrmetro Swansea was a bus rapid transit route in Swansea, Wales. The route was served by FTR articulated buses in an attempt to relieve traffic congestion and provide alternative transport to cars, before they were withdrawn in 2015 in favour of smaller-capacity buses.

Overview

The Welsh Assembly Government provided £2.2m in funding to help launch the scheme, and the local bus operator First Cymru 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, Swansea railway station, Kingsway, Swansea bus station, Civic Centre and Swansea University. The off-peak journey time between Morriston Hospital and Swansea University 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.

See also

• List of guided busways and BRT systems in the United Kingdom
• Transport in Wales

References

1. Swansea Leader March/April 2006
2. The Wright Group: BRT Streetcar Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
3. BBC NEWS | Wales | South West Wales | City secures Streetcar funding
4. "Recruitment". Archived from the original on 5 January 2009. Retrieved 6 December 2008.
5. Username (Required). "South & West Wales | First Bus". Firstgroup.com. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
6. City and County of Swansea – Swansea Metro Project Report
7. Bus and Coach News – Swansea 'ftr' delayed to 2009 Archived 30 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
8. BBC NEWS | Wales | South West Wales | Bendy bus roadworks prompt anger
9. BBC NEWS | Wales | South West Wales | City streets change for bendy bus
10. Username (Required). "South & West Wales | First Bus". Firstgroup.com. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
11. "Swansea's Kingsway one-way system date set - BBC News". BBC News. 7 October 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2019.

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

v t e City and County of Swansea
History	History of Swansea Gower
Politics	City and County of Swansea Council Swansea Guildhall Swansea Civic Centre List of electoral wards in Swansea Swansea East Constituency Bon-y-maen Cwmbwrla Landore Llansamlet Morriston Mynydd-bach Penderry St. Thomas Waterfront (part) Swansea West Constituency Castle Cockett Dunvant and Killay Mayals Sketty Townhill Uplands Waterfront (part) Waunarlwydd Gower Constituency Bishopston Clydach Fairwood Gorseinon and Penyrheol Gower Gowerton Llangyfelach Llwchwr Mumbles Pen-clawdd Penllergaer Pennard Pontarddulais Pontlliw and Tircoed West Cross
Communities	Birchgrove Bishopston Bonymaen Castle Clydach Cockett Cwmbwrla Dunvant Gorseinon Gowerton Grovesend and Waungron Ilston Killay Landore Llangennith, Llanmadoc and Cheriton Llangyfelach Llanrhidian Higher Llanrhidian Lower Llansamlet Llwchwr Mawr Morriston Mumbles Mynydd-Bach Penderry Penllergaer Pennard Penrice Pontarddulais Pontlliw and Tircoed Port Eynon Reynoldston Rhossili Sketty St Thomas Three Crosses Townhill Uplands Upper Killay Waterfront Waunarlwydd
Culture	Glynn Vivian Art Gallery Royal Institution of South Wales Swansea Grand Theatre
Education	Swansea University University of Wales Trinity Saint David Swansea Metropolitan University Gower College Swansea
Sports	Swansea City A.F.C. Ospreys (rugby union)
Buildings	Listed buildings Grade I Grade II* List of places in Swansea Scheduled monuments Registered parks and gardens
Transport	Roads M4 motorway European route E30 A48 road A483 road A484 road A4067 road A4216 road A4217 road A4240 road A4118 road Bus First Cymru Gorseinon bus station Gower Explorer Metro (Route 4) National Express Swansea bus station Cycling Celtic Trail National Cycle Route 4 National Cycle Route 43 Railway lines South Wales Main Line West Wales line Heart of Wales line Swansea District line Railway stations Gowerton Llansamlet Pontarddulais Swansea Air Swansea Airport Waterways River Tawe Swansea Canal Tennant Canal Sea Swansea docks Swansea Marina Swansea Cork ferry (Fastnet Line) Severn Link

• Guided busways and BRT systems in the United Kingdom
• Transport in Swansea
• 2009 establishments in Wales