No movement from Newcastle despite fact coach was never affected by DfT SCR retrofit study
Further clarification on Euro VI retrofits was given this week as a spokesperson from the Department for Transport (DfT) confirmed that coaches were never part of the ongoing study into the effectiveness of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) devices.
It comes after developments in both Newcastle and Sheffield on the matter of retrofits for both coaches and buses.
Despite DfT confirming that the study never concerned or affected coaches, Newcastle City Council (NCC), set to pause the acceptance of applications for grant funding for vehicle upgrades from 17 December, still does not differentiate between coach and bus in such applications.
In November, NCC said it had given out fewer than 500 grants in the past year, with £13m of £15m of allocated grant funding going unpaid.
Andrew McGuinness, Confederation of Passenger Transport Regional Manager (North of England), informs routeone that the council is still waiting for the outcome of the national bus retrofit pause before making a decision.
“It previously took a few weeks to clarify our feedback that coaches or even new vehicle purchases weren’t affected, but the council’s view is that it needs to be fair, as there is only one pot of money,” says Mr McGuinness.
Even so, an operator who wishes to remain anonymous has criticised council delays in processing successful grant applications.
“Staff are overwhelmed and cannot cope,” they say. “Staff from other departments are having to be drafted in and trained up. Consultants employed to advise the council have left. Emails from the council to operators are unsigned. Nobody wants to take responsibility. Key staff have left the department and the whole thing is dysfunctional.”
The council is reportedly being inflexible on exempting school visits from Clean Air Zone (CAZ) charges while other councils have made exemptions, leading to further criticism.
All of this is causing a lack of investment among operators of coaches that cannot see any way forward at the moment,” the operator adds. “The age profile is circa 20+ years due to lack of investment and vehicles are mainly used on home-to-school and local school private hires. It is not a problem for bus operators as the vehicles in the main are Euro VI. Cars are exempt, as it is the HGV and PSV industry that has to shoulder the burden.”
A recent debate in Parliament revealed that retrofitted buses in Sheffield were failing to meet expected Euro VI standards due to stop-start conditions in urban areas.
A formal position from DfT is expected soon.
