Up to £5m has been made available by the Scottish Government to a fifth phase of the Bus Emissions Abatement Retrofit Fund (BEAR5). It will go towards upgrading coaches and buses in Scotland to Euro VI standards or better, with applications open until 28 July.
The latest allocation complements £18.6m awarded through four earlier phases of BEAR. That money facilitated the retrofit of 1,143 coaches and buses to achieve Euro VI standards.
Coach and bus operators, local authorities and community transport organisations that are based in, or operate eligible vehicles in to, a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) and/or an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) in Scotland are eligible to receive BEAR5 money.
Funding is available to upgrade Euro IV and Euro V vehicles that are less than 13 years old at the time of application with CVRAS-accredited exhaust retrofit or low-emission drivelines such as diesel-electric hybrid or pure electric. Those vehicles must also have been owned by the operator for at least 12 months before the submission. Bids proposing new repower types will also be considered, the BEAR5 guidance document states.
Applicants may seek BEAR5 funding under either the European Commission’s de minimis regulations or via the revised European Commission State Aid decision of 14 May 2020. The scheme’s grant calculator spreadsheet enables toggling between those thresholds.
A vehicle that receives funding must be operated for a minimum of five years post-upgrade in an AQMA/LEZ in Scotland, although there is scope for a variation in those terms if the operator wishes to sell, dispose of or repurpose it. That includes its sale to facilitate replacement by a zero-emission model.
Although the deadline for BEAR5 applications is 28 July, Transport Scotland has encouraged early submissions. A further opportunity to bid will open in August and September if sufficient funding remains available.
While large bus operators dominated BEAR4 allocations in late-2021, several smaller coach operators were represented in the funding awards.
