MUCH was promised. But at first, it was little short of a disaster. Passengers had been told it was the future of transport in the city, but as the first Metro buses began to leave the depot, it was anything but well received.

First had invested £11.9 million in devising new services and promised a new fleet of state-of-the-art buses.

"Buses every ten minutes" was the promise echoing from the company's James Street offices. There was only one problem - many never arrived.

First's commercial manager Peter Edwards is an honest man. He admits there were mistakes. He also believes customers were right to be unhappy.

"It was not a happy time. A combination of driver shortages and the start of the A64 roadworks led to many journeys being cancelled or delayed," he says.

"With customers not being too familiar with the new routes to start with, we had to deal with a lot of complaints."

He is not kidding. Metro's early days were difficult to say the least.

Passengers claimed buses did not turn up. And they said they couldn't understand the timetable. Far from being the transport revolution expected, the service was denounced as a shambles, a farce and the last resort.

It was chaos. People arrived late for work. They missed appointments. They were stranded in the city centre, unable to get home.

Passengers deserted the service in droves. First had to put it right. To their credit, they have largely achieved it.

Timetables were changed. Services were re-routed to avoid the roadworks. Customer care was the by-word. And with that, passengers began to return.

Extra drivers were recruited and First is now able to deliver its expansive service. "As new drivers were set on, things started to get better," says Mr Edwards.

"The situation further improved when the A64 roadworks were suspended during Christmas. That was a turning point. After that we started to see more people using the buses."

Managers believe passenger numbers are up. Passenger satisfaction is certainly up. "It was awful at first, but I don't have many complaints now," says Kathryn Simpson, a regular York bus user.

"The ten-minute service is usually pretty accurate and there is always a bus coming before you have to wait long."

Matthew Smith, of Bootham, added: "There are still things that could be done to improve the buses, but I am generally satisfied.

"The buses are clean and comfortable. Services can only get better when the A64 roadwork scheme is completed.

"Some work needs to be done in the Holgate Road area. Sometimes the Claret Line bus is delayed because of city centre traffic."

Ever the perfectionists, First managers are not satisfied. City centre traffic, especially at peak times, is still hampering service delivery.

"Despite all these efforts, people at First still complain that they are dogged by the effects of traffic congestion at peak times," says Mr Edwards.

To illustrate this, he likes to tell customers - and journalists - a story.

"Jackie Appleton is the Transport and General Workers' Union representative for the drivers in York," he begins.

"As part of her duties she regularly drives the number ten service from Poppleton to York. She tells us she is pleased with the decision to invest in the bus fleet.

"But she says she cannot predict from one day to the next how long it will take for her journey. One day it is 40 minutes, other days it is less than ten."

Speaking to Mr Edwards, you can't help but get the feeling that there are a lot of problems beyond First's control.

The A64 roadworks were one.

The company still insists, as it always has, that it did not expect the year-long scheme to start just as its new timetable was launched.

Mr Edwards says: "Our drivers try their best to keep to time but, faced with these sorts of problems, what can they do? And what can I do to deliver a timetable that can possibly make sense of such a wide variation in time?

"By the end of March, we will have received £11 million-worth of new buses. But without more certainty as to the long-term, the planning cannot take place and we will continue to have problems."

Help could soon be at hand.

City of York Council is investing heavily in a new traffic management system, which could make life a lot easier.

BLISS, (bus location and information sub-system) aims to monitor bus movements, using on-the-spot service information to provide bus priorities for First.

In simple terms, the technology being discussed could soon mean that traffic light signals could be staggered to allow late buses, packed with commuters, to run through - helping them to reach their destinations more quickly.

For First, the future is looking much brighter. The initial scepticism about the Metro service has subsided and passengers are more positive.

Mr Edwards says: "We think we now offer the people of York a good service. The more people that use public transport, the less congestion there is likely to be.

"We have no doubt that the investment in place will help us. We are also looking to expand our services into Sundays and the early evenings.

"It is no longer appropriate for buses to finish at 6pm at night. In places such as London and Leeds, there is an after work social culture.

"It could be the same in York. We are looking to develop into these sorts of markets.

"We also want to build on the success of the Metro network and make it even better for our customers."

Updated: 10:38 Thursday, March 14, 2002