More than 400 buses in Birmingham and Coventry are to be
fitted with pollution busting technology thanks to grants
totalling £4.5 million.
West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has been awarded
the money by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural
Affairs (DEFRA) Clean Bus Technology Fund to retrofit buses with
kits that tackle exhaust emissions.
The WMCA received funding for £3 million in Birmingham.
This will be matched by £2,920,200 from four bus operators –
National Express West Midlands, Diamond, Claribels and First – to
install kits on 364 vehicles.
These will be buses running in Birmingham city centre, more
than half of which then travel on routes to the Black
Country.
Coventry City Council receives £1.5 million under the
scheme following its application for funding, with the WMCA as a
partner.
This will involve one operator, National Express Coventry,
and look to retrofit 104 buses with a £240,500 match-funding
contribution by the company.
Cllr Roger Lawrence, lead member for transport on the WMCA,
said: “This is fantastic news and a very welcome addition
to the bus fleet of the West Midlands.
“Reducing bus engine emissions is key in tackling the
hugely important issue of air quality in city centres.
“It is also a priority of the West Midlands Bus Alliance,
which is working hard to raise standards across the
region.”
Councillor Stewart Stacey, Cabinet Member for Transport and
Roads, at Birmingham City Council said: “Public transport plays a
key role in encouraging people to leave their cars at home and
use alternative methods to get around, which helps tackle
congestion and the impact of vehicle emissions on our
city.
“It’s great news that, in addition to the 20 new super
clean hydrogen-fuelled buses we announced late last year, four
operators will be retrofitting emission-reducing kits to more
than 360 buses serving the city centre, demonstrating their
commitment to helping improve air quality for Birmingham’s
citizens.”
Cllr Kamran Caan, Cabinet member for Public Health and
Sport, at Coventry City Council, said: “As a city we want to
improve air quality in Coventry, and we welcome the
funding.
“The Council is taking the problem of air pollution very
seriously and looking at a range of ways to reduce the impact we
know it is having on the health of our communities.
“We are also really keen to urge residents to do what they
can to be more environmentally friendly, by leaving the car at
home, even just for one day a week, and thinking about car
sharing, or doing part of their journeys differently.
We are already working with the Joint Air Quality Unit -
and reducing emissions from buses will be a step in the right
direction.”
The technology works by capturing harmful particulates and
nitrogen dioxide gases from the vehicle’s engine.
It takes a team of two engineers around six hours to fit a
filter and a selective catalytic reduction “trap” to each
bus.
Once installed, harmful emissions coming out of the exhaust
are reduced by as much as 96%, making the air coming out of the
exhaust cleaner than the air in the city outside.
The same scheme has seen £1.5 million awarded to Coventry
City Council, which worked in partnership with the WMCA to make
its application.
This will see kits being fitted to 104 National Express
Coventry buses – the majority of the firm’s 150-strong fleet -
with £240,500 being put in by the firm.
There were 20 successful authorities around the UK who
applied for funding, with the WMCA awarded the most and
committing to retrofit the highest number of vehicles of all
outside of London.
The West Midlands Bus
Alliance, the first of its kind in the UK,
brings together bus operators, local councils, and other partners
to work together to deliver high levels of passenger satisfaction
and drive forward investment in our bus services.
