Call to clean up city’s air with fleet of electric buses
BRINGING electric buses to the streets of Glasgow should be seriously considered in order to combat the city’s “dangerous” air pollution levels, councillors have said.
Talks were held between a Green councillor and SPT chiefs to discuss the possibilities of purchasing and using low emission public transport.
Bringing in publiclyowned electric buses was part of the Green’s budget proposal in a £1million plan to get them running in the city’s first low emissions zone.
Green councillor Martin Bartos, said: “We cannot just complain about bus cuts whilst begging the private companies that have let us down to look again. Now is the time to get on board with buying publicly-owned electric buses and clean up the dirty diesel buses whose exhausts are poisoning Glaswegians.
“There needs to be a real effort made to clean up the city’s dangerous pollution levels.
“Until we bring transport properly into public control, our vision is to work with SPT to gradually build a clean Electric Overground fleet and have SPT, as a publicly accountable body, managing the service contracts.”
Installing filters in to the bus exhausts, called traps, was also brought forward in the discussions between Dr Bartos and senior SPT officers.
This was said to be a more effective way to tackle pollution as it wouldn’t be as costly as buying brand new electric vehicles.
The discussion came after a report from Friends of the Earth Scotland revealed that Hope Street was the most polluted street in Scotland.
Fellow Green councillor Martha Wardrop said: “The fact that pollutants in Glasgow are breaching legal limits is unacceptable. We know that over 2000 Scots die from the effects of air pollution each year, so delays in meeting clean air standards mean even more unnecessary death and suffering
“We have to view this as a public health emergency.”
A SPT spokeswoman said: “At his request, SPT representatives met with Councillor Bartos to discuss potential options to develop more environmentally friendly travel options within the city.
“It was a positive and helpful meeting which served in helping set the tone for future progress in this area.”