Council is given cash boost for greener bus travel
£672,000 FROM GOVERNMENT WILL CLEAN UP EMISSIONS FROM DOZENS OF VEHICLES
DOZENS of buses that provide services in Leicester are set to be adapted to make them cleaner to run, as part of the city’s efforts to cut air pollution.
The city council has been awarded £672,000 by the government’s Joint Air Quality Unit to help clean up exhaust fumes and harmful emissions from buses.
In recent years, pollution filters have been fitted to 211 diesel buses operating on the city’s main routes by the city council working with the main bus companies.
The city centre is now a clean air zone for buses. All of those vehicles now meet the highest Euro 6 standard for nitrogen dioxide emissions.
The new funding will now see the council work with six bus operators to retrofit the filtering technology to 42 vehicles operating on routes on the outskirts of the city. This includes some school buses and coaches.
Deputy city mayor Councillor Adam Clarke, who leads on environment and transportation, said: “Tackling emissions from diesel vehicles is an ongoing and vital part of our work to further improve air quality across the city.
“Working in partnership with bus operators, we have already made huge investments to cut emissions and reduce pollution from the vehicles. I am proud to say that we are already delivering on our pledge to deliver a clean air zone for buses in and around the city centre.
“This latest funding will allow us to extend that and support other important bus services to upgrade their vehicles to the highest European clean air standards.”
The six bus companies that the city council will be working with in this round of funding are Arriva, Ausden Clarke, Centrebus, Confidence, Orbit Coaches and Stagecoach.
The city council is also spending almost £5 million to help replace diesel vehicles with ultra-low emission electric buses on all park-and-ride services as part of its £80 million Transforming Cities Programme, supported by £40 million from the Department for Transport. The electric services will launch later this year.