The industry has a small window of opportunity to make a real difference in cleaning up city air, but only if the government will listen
At her first official engagement newly-appointed Buses Minister Nusrat Ghani announced £40m funding to retrofit 2,768 buses in England to Euro 6, to assist the introduction of Clean Air Zones (CAZ) in 20 local authority areas (www.route-one.net/articles/DfT_grants__40m_to_retrofit_2_700_buses).
Clean air was the headline at the fourth annual UK Bus Summit, at QEII Conference Centre, overlooking the Houses of Parliament. “We’re making a statement of intent being right here next to Westminster,” said organiser Prof David Begg.
Displayed outside were Optare’s electric double-decker, a Scania biogas ‘decker from Nottingham and Sir Peter Hendy’s Cummins Euro 6 re-powered Routemaster.
Congestion
Four years ago, speakers and delegates identified that congestion was the number one problem facing the industry. Since then the connection between buses stuck in traffic and pollution is clear, thanks to real-life trials in Brighton.
Says Prof Begg: “Congestion is killing the industry, chasing away passengers and causing pollution.
“Every decade in the last 50 years the bus sector has been losing 10% of patronage, directly because of falling bus speeds.
“If you reduce bus speeds by 50% – and that’s what’s happened over the last 50 years in conurbations – it leads to a 50% increase in pollution, emissions and NOx, assuming vehicle standards remain the same.”
“CAZs will either be a boost to the bus sector or kill it. Our evidence-based research shows that the number one problem when it comes to NOx is diesel cars.
“Here’s where we have a challenge, because that hierarchy doesn’t match with what’s expedient politically. This is not to go for diesel car owners, but buses.
“I understand the political challenge, but if you don’t go for diesel cars, then your CAZ policy is not evidence based, and it won’t work.”
Dirty diesel
“With demonization of diesel – cars in particular – we hadn’t appreciated how clean Euro 6 buses actually are,” added Prof Begg. “A new Euro 6 bus produces less NOx than a Euro 6 diesel car, on a per-vehicle basis.
“And, we can have confidence in diesel bus’ emissions due to the different real-world on-road testing regime, compared to lab-based car tests.”
“We’ve found with diesel cars that the emissions can be six times greater than what the manufacturer claims them to be.”
A later presentation graphically illustrated this, with only two out of 15 cars tested, from different manufacturers, meeting Euro 6 in on-road tests, with the worst being 10 times higher than the legal limit (www.duh.de/eki-ergebnisse/ – view in Chrome).
He adds that if CAZs move to electric buses, research shows that with present levels of funding, services would have to be cut by 80% to pay for it. “You just can’t do it.”
So far, of the four CAZs announced (London, Glasgow, Leeds and York) only the first two include cars. Details of the next 20 or so will be announced next month.
Retrofit is the way ahead
In an impassioned speech, Greener Journeys CEO Claire Haigh said: “In nose-to-tail traffic emissions increase four-fold. At 41% the largest share of road transport emissions comes from diesel cars, followed by diesel vans at 30%; buses and coaches are responsible for 6%.
“While it is essential that all modes clean up their act, equally it is crucial that tackling congestion is the cornerstone of air quality strategy. And, that interventions are targeted at the biggest polluters.
“It is the role of central government to install the right framework, to ensure that this will happen.”
She observes that government guidance falls short of what is required to bring air quality down to legal limits, telling local councils to target buses first, with private cars at the bottom of the list “to be impacted as a last resort.”
“This is in the exact reverse order of NOx contributions.
“CAZs cannot succeed without taking action to curb the biggest polluters.
“Government has repeatedly shied away from taking decisions that anger motorists. But on this most serious issue, it must show clear leadership and produce guidance reflecting actual NOx contributions.
“Passing all responsibility, for all the difficult political decisions to local councils will not be sufficient.
routeone Comment
Prof David Begg neatly summed up the industry’s challenge – aligned with the work Greener Journeys does: “Our challenge is to make sure that all the policy is evidence-based.
“We know that in politics that doesn’t always happen because of political expediency.|
CAZs need to embrace bus travel as an integral part of the solution, says Claire Haigh. And, she’s right.
What can government do to ensure that CAZs are a success?
“The quickest route to clean air is to include diesel cars and vans in CAZs; to put Euro 6 buses at the centre of plans and encourage modal shift from car to sustainable transport,” argues Claire Haigh. We agree.
In short:
The UK Bus Summit is designed to make things happen, rather than be a conference-style talking shop, says organiser Prof Begg.
The full-day event brought in 20 speakers, who also participated in four panel debates. It was also supported by 12 sponsors who had stands in a mini exhibition.
The 400 delegates included a Traffic Commissioner, local authorities and officials from the Department for Transport.
