The Scottish Government is to provide up to a further £5.7m for the retrofit of eligible coaches and buses to reduce emissions through a fourth phase of the Bus Emissions Abatement Retrofit (BEAR) programme.
CVRAS-approved exhaust upgrades to achieve Euro VI compliance, and repower schemes with electric, diesel-electric hybrid or gas power, will be eligible for support. That is subject to the condition that the vehicles involved are less than 13 years old at the time of application and are OEM Euro IV or Euro V.
Money will be available to operators, local authorities and community transport organisations located in, or operating eligible vehicles on routes within, one of the four cities that are part of the Scottish Government’s Low Emission Zone (LEZ) programme, and/or within one of Scotland’s Air Quality Management Areas.
Closing date for applications is 26 August. Submissions may be under either the European Union’s de minimis regulations or the revised state aid terms of 14 May 2020.
In the former case, successful bidders may be paid a grant of up to 100% towards eligible capital costs, limited to a total of €200,000 of de minimis state aid over any three-year fiscal period. For applications on the latter basis, successful bidders can receive up to a 95% grant towards eligible capital costs.
Bids are capped at £1.995m per applicant and at £19,000 average per coach or bus per applicant for exhaust SCR retrofit fitments, guidance notes from Transport Scotland state.
The fourth phase of BEAR builds on a combined total of £12.2m paid towards retrofit through previous rounds of the scheme. That money has supported the upgrade of 762 coaches and buses to meet Euro VI standards.
Minister for Transport Graeme Dey says that a further round of BEAR is part of the Scottish Government’s preparations for the country’s LEZs in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The introduction of those in 2022 is “critical,” Mr Dey adds.
The third phase of BEAR in 2020/21 saw 20 successful bids awarded a total of £9.8m towards the upgrade of 594 vehicles. Of those bids, that submitted by Lothian Buses was for the highest number of units, at 188.
Engineering Director Stevie More has welcomed the news of a fourth phase of BEAR, noting that the municipally owned business is “fully committed to improving air quality across all our operations in Edinburgh and the Lothians in line with the Scottish Government’s ambition to have the best air quality in Europe.”
