Has anyone noticed the sneaky way TfL will be expanding the ULEZ in October 2020?
Yes, everyone knows that they are expanding the ULEZ to the north and south circular in October 2021, but actually for coach operators it is expanding to the whole LEZ area in October 2020.
Check out the TfL website and you can see that from 26 October 2020 buses and coaches will have to be Euro 6 or pay £300 a day if they do not meet Euro 4, and £100 a day if they do not meet Euro 5.
Virtually every school route we operate now goes into the LEZ. It would cost me over £2m to upgrade those coaches in my fleet not already Euro 6, and I know for certain that none of the schools we work with can afford either the fine or the increase in costs we would have to introduce to recover the costs of additional financing for new vehicles.
I cannot see any grants or assistance being given either.
I suspect huge numbers of coach operators in the London area will decide it isn’t worth it and just shut down. Why has there been no notification about this that would have allowed us to plan ahead? Where was the consultation?
- Jeremy Reese, The Little Bus Company, Elstree
