London Buses trial new equipment to tackle air pollution20 April 2011

In a first of its kind, TfL (Transport for London) is to trial several retrofitted NOx emissions reduction technologies on 18 buses, before signing up for equipment on more of its bus fleet.

Mike Weston, London Buses operations director, makes the point that all buses achieve Euro 4 in terms of particulate matter, meaning that PM emissions have dropped from more than 200 tonnes in 1997 to 14 tonnes last year.

The Mayor's air quality strategy proposes that, subject to government support, by 2015 all buses in London will meet the Euro 4 standard for NOx – and while the vast majority of the 8,500 buses in the Capital's fleet will do so automatically, around 2,700 will need a retrofitted or have to be replaced.

"London continues to look for ways to improve the emissions and environmental performance of the bus fleet," comments Weston. This often means trialling new technology and leading the way for the rest of country, as we have already done by introducing hybrid and hydrogen buses."

The trial will be carried out on three types of buses and will be carried out for a year. A tendering process to find manufacturers for equipment began earlier this week.

Author
Brian Tinham

Related Companies
Transport for London

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