LowCVP 'blog' for Green GB Week: The low carbon bus revolution
Mon 15 October 2018
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In support of Green GB Week, the LowCVP is publishing a series of short updates detailing progress on the 'Road to Zero'. The first article this week - by Dan Hayes, LowCVP's Bus Project Manager - focuses on the bus market, illustrating how - despite their declining use - buses are leading the way in terms of the uptake of low carbon and low emission technologies in the UK...
Cleaning up
Buses had long been associated with being 'dirty' in the UK. Even before the 'Dirty Dieselgate' furore, articles focusing on poor air quality would often come with a picture of a bus exhaust with a plume of black smoke billowing out into the face of a trailing cyclist or any passengers still waiting at a bus stop. Despite being an efficient, flexible and cost effective means of travel, the diesel bus has had many critics over the years for being a major contributor to poor local air quality.
Much of this, however, is now changing...
Thanks to a long-running policy drive, supported by the LowCVP and other stakeholders, independent testing of the latest diesel buses shows that new Euro VI buses produce over 90% less NOx than their Euro V counterparts. In some circumstances a Euro VI diesel bus will produce the same, or even less NOx, than a new diesel car. The graph below highlights this testing and illustrates how new buses are key to solving our cities air pollution challenge.
There are also moves to clean up the existing fleet, through Government schemes like the Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme (CVRAS), developed and designed by the LowCVP and Energy Saving Trust. CVRAS is an accreditation scheme which approves companies and the technologies they supply to reduce NOx emissions from existing vehicles down to Euro VI equivalent levels (0.5 g NOx / km). The scheme covers buses, coaches, HGVs, taxis, vans and RCVs.
The challenges of funding, congestion and rising car ownership
The UK bus market has been suffering for a number of years from reduced local authority support, growing car ownership and competition from more accessible services like Uber. Congestion has also been worsening and reports such as "Buses in Crisis" from the Campaign for Better Transport have highlighted the decline in bus use. Worries about this decline have been so strong that a Parliamentary inquiry looking at the "Health of the Bus Market" was launched last summer. (This Guardian article highlights some of the key issues currently facing the UK bus industry.)
However, it is not all doom and gloom. There are some areas of the country where the bus sector has been thriving and patronage has been increasing year-on-year, especially in places where bus operators and local councils have worked together to face up to challenging conditions.
The charge of 'green' buses...
Since 2008, the UK Government has supported the bus industry in purchasing cleaner and greener vehicles through capital grant schemes such as the Green Bus Fund and the Low Emission Bus Scheme. This market support has led to over 6,000 Low Carbon Emission Buses (30% less greenhouse gas emissions compared to than Euro III diesel buses) in service across Great Britain. The graph below shows the technology breakdown of the LCEBs in serve across the UK:
The UK bus market has been at the forefront of trialing and adopting new greener and cleaner bus technologies, ahead of other vehicle sectors.The graph below shows the percentage of overall registrations that are LCEBs, with an estimated 65% of all buses in 2017 that fall under the LCEB definition. This compares to an average of less than 3% of new registrations in the car market being ULEVs, and less than 1% in the truck and van markets being of equivalent ULEV capability.
[See the LowCVP's 'Journey of the Green Bus' and other titles in a trilogy of publications by the LowCVP for Greener journeys (link)]
Though the UK bus market is facing one of the most challenging times in its history, it is a leader in the adoption of cleaner and greener technologies.
With the latest Ultra Low Emission Bus scheme competition winners to be announced later this month, total support from the UK Government will total almost £200m. I am confident that we'll continue to see an even higher proportion of cleaner, greener buses on UK streets in the years to come.
It's important to note, moreover, that the UK bus market is driven by UK-based suppliers. Over 60% of new buses are built here...
Progress in the UK bus market truly is an example of clean growth supporting Green Great Britain.
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