First York

In 1932, the York–West Yorkshire Joint Committee was formed, as part of a joint venture between the West Yorkshire Road Car Company and City of York Council. Following the deregulation of bus services and introduction of the Transport Act 1985, such joint ventures were prohibited, with West Yorkshire Road Car taking full ownership.

In 1987, West Yorkshire Road Car Company was sold in a management buyout to the AJS Group, owned by former East Yorkshire Motor Services managing director Alan Stephenson. Operations in York were subsequently rebranded as York City & District.

In 1990, the York-based operations of AJS Group were sold to Yorkshire Rider. Four years later, Rider York was included in the sale of Yorkshire Rider to Badgerline.

In 1995, First Group was formed, following the merger of Badgerline and GRT Group. In 1998, Rider York was rebranded as First York. In the same year, First Group took ownership of Glenn Coaches, followed by York Pullman two years later.

In 2001, in advance of the launch of the York Metro bus network in September 2001, First York began a major fleet refreshment programme, taking delivery of a new low-floor fleet of 98 buses, including 12 double deckers, 53 single-deckers and 33 midibuses, replacing a majority of the company's pre-existing bus fleet.

In February 2007, the company introduced an hourly express service between York and Leeds Bradford Airport, branded York Aircoach. Initially operating with Volvo B10M coaches, the service was later revised to use single-deck buses and rebranded York Airlink. The service was withdrawn in April 2009.

In April 2009, the company launched a half-hourly express service, which ran between York and Leeds via Tadcaster and Seacroft – competing with Transdev Yorkshire Coastliner. The trial was unsuccessful and the service was subsequently withdrawn in August 2010.

In June 2014, the park and ride site at Askham Bar was expanded and relocated to a new 1,100-space site – as part of a £22 million project. In the same month, a new site was opened at Poppleton Bar, with services operated by a fleet of fully-electric Optare Versa EVs.

As of June 2024, the First York fleet consists of 86 battery electric buses, which are based from a single depot on James Street.

The electrification of First York's fleet was primarily achieved through the awarding of £8.4 million of Department for Transport to the City of York Council for the purchase of 44 Wrightbus electric buses. These buses, in the form of 24 Wright GB Kite single-decks and 20 Wright StreetDeck Electroliner double-decker buses, began to enter service in York from late August 2023. A further nine StreetDeck Electroliners were delivered in late 2023 for University of York bus services.