Government funding boost to air quality drive

Councils across the country stand to benefit from a GBP40m funding boost as part of a government drive to roll out more low emission buses on the roads.

Launched in 2017 and run by the Joint Air Quality Unit, the Clean Bus Technology Fund will help 20 local authorities in retrofitting vehicles with technology to reduce tailpipe emissions of nitrogen dioxide – a key move in the wider effort to improving air quality in UK cities.

Speaking at the UK Bus Summit at London’s QEII Centre today, 8 February, Transport Minister Nusrat Ghani set out how the money will enable older vehicles to meet minimum emissions standards, and contribute to better air quality.

Far from adding to the problem of air pollution, she enthused, buses and coaches make a unique contribution to the solution as they can help avoid nose-to-tail car traffic at peak times, endless engine idling, stop-start travel and rising pollution and carbon emissions.

“Buses and coaches are hugely important to those who rely on them and to the communities in which these people live and work,” she explained. “Road transport is going to change dramatically over the next couple of decades – and we have to make sure that the bus industry is ready to benefit from those changes.”

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