Graham’s Vidler’s opinion piece on light rail last year underestimated the single most important advantage that modern rail — especially very light rail (VLR) — offers over buses: a dramatic reduction in harmful particulate emissions.
Rubber tyred vehicles, even electric buses, produce large quantities of non-exhaust PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ particulates from tyre wear, brake abrasion and road surface erosion. These particles penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream and are directly linked to heart disease, respiratory illness and premature mortality.
A 2019 UK Government study showed that non-exhaust particulates now exceed exhaust emissions in urban environments — a problem that buses, however ‘clean’, cannot solve.
VLR and tram systems avoid this entirely. Steel wheel/steel rail produces more than 90% fewer particulates compared to a bus of equivalent passenger capacity.
Rail vehicles generate almost no tyre wear, minimal brake dust (especially with regenerative braking), and protect road surfaces from heavy abrasion.
Environmental benefit is multiplied again by rail’s much longer service life. A tram or VLR vehicle typically runs 30–50 years, compared with much less years for a bus. Fewer replacements means drastically lower embedded carbon, fewer manufacturing cycles, and far less end-of-life waste.
A single VLR set can also deliver exceptional efficiency of operation: one driver, and up to 300 passengers, something no bus can match.
The emissions per passenger moved are therefore not just lower — they are orders of magnitude lower.
The Light Rail Transit Association’s (LRTA) discussions recently highlighted historic civil engineering and utility diversion costs for tram schemes — but VLR directly tackles these issues. Its lightweight modular track form, shallow construction depth, and reduced utility conflict cut embodied carbon as well as cost, addressing many of the same barriers identified by David Cockle in the LRTA thread.
Meanwhile, bus patronage has been in decline since 1962 — passengers have voted with their feet into their cars — while every UK city that has reintroduced trams has seen ridership surge, demonstrating clearly that rail, not buses, is what tempts people away from polluting car travel.
VLR is not a competitor to buses. It is the mode that finally solves the environmental and public health problems rubber tyred systems cannot.
James Harkins
Campaign Group and Clean and Green Transport Solutions
Warrington
