‘Emissions bid defeated as older buses retained’

BUS managers say the Welsh Government’s plans to reduce pollution from buses are currently having the opposite effect – by keeping older buses on the roads for longer.

The Government will introduce a Buses Wales Bill next year to reform the bus industry through measures such as franchising, and wants all 2,300 diesel buses in Wales replaced with zero-emission vehicles by 2028.

Managers say the uncertainty has hit investment in low-emission diesel buses, meaning that older, more polluting vehicles stay in service for longer.

The Welsh Government has promised £29m for new electric buses and says it hopes the bus industry will respond positively to the decarbonisation challenge.

In 2018-19 the average age of Welsh buses increased to eight years from 7.7 years in 2016-17. The average age of buses in England was 7.6 years in 2018-19.

The increase in Wales by 2018-19 pre-dates the Government’s decision that all buses and taxis in Wales should be zero-emission types by 2028. This could put another brake on investment in the short to medium term, because new buses are meant to earn revenue for 14 to 16 years, not seven or eight.

For most bus companies, electric or hydrogen buses – with recharging or refuelling infrastructure – are unaffordable. Their only practical option for new buses is diesel vehicles which meet the Euro VI emissions standard. In the real world, as opposed to test laboratories, a Euro VI bus is said to emit less pollution than a single Euro 6 diesel car, despite having capacity for up to 20 times more people.

A Stagecoach spokeswoman said the company would introduce electric buses into Caerphilly in 2020, thanks to UK government funding, but added: “The Welsh Government’s 2028 zero-emission target for passenger transport and the uncertainty that the Buses Wales Bill has generated does make investment decisions very difficult.

“It has, in many cases, led to the unintended consequence of older buses being retained rather than encouraging investment in new lowemission buses.”

Wales has a higher proportion of small, family-owned bus companies than Britain as a whole. A manager at one such company said he had stopped acquiring new vehicles in 2016.

In that year, Welsh transport minister Ken Skates said: “We are considering the future of passenger services across Wales including the role that [bus] franchising might play in benefiting communities, the travelling public and businesses.”

The manager said his business’ future had become even more uncertain since then, with legislation due to pave the way next year for franchising of local bus networks through competitive tendering.

At the pre-2016 investment rate, his entire bus fleet would have met the Euro VI standard by about 2022, he said. Instead, all of his buses conform to the weaker Euro IV and V standards. Some of his routes run through areas of poor air quality.

An Assembly committee recently asked Mr Skates how 2,300 diesel buses would be replaced by 2028.

He replied: “First, we’re going to bring in the reforms and legislation which will take control, through the legislation next year, from operators and put it in our hands – control over emissions that can be sent out of exhausts from buses.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said tackling the climate emergency was a global issue and everyone should play their part, including the public and private sectors.

“The Welsh Government is doing its part – in its most recent budget confirming funding of £29m to transition to low-emission vehicles to move us towards our ambitious target of a zero-emission bus and taxi/ private hire vehicle fleet by 2028,” he said.