Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is to offer coach and non-Transport for London (TfL) bus operators a grant of “around £15,000” per vehicle to help them satisfy the capital’s Low Emission Zone (LEZ), which will require Euro VI emission standards from 26 October.
The money will be available to small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. It is part of an expansion of the existing van scrappage scheme that will open later this year. Up to three vehicles per business will be eligible.
Precise details of what the money will be made available for and what other eligibility criteria will be in place have not been released. However, TfL has already suggested that there is potential for funding to go towards exhaust retrofit equipment besides scrappage.
Non-compliant coaches and buses that enter the London LEZ from when it tightens to Euro VI will be subject to daily charges. That will be £100 if they satisfy Euro IV or Euro V. For Euro III or worse is will be £300. They will not be subject to further charges beyond those to enter the Ultra Low Emission Zone.
In addition to extending funding streams to allow the upgrade of coaches and non-TfL buses to Euro VI, Mr Khan has called for the government to deliver a national scrappage scheme that will “support all those businesses that want to do the right thing and switch to cleaner vehicles across the UK.”
The Confederation of Passenger Transport has welcomed the funding. CEO Graham Vidler says it will be “working with TfL to finalise the details of the scheme over the coming months.”
