More than half of London’s entire bus fleet are to be upgraded to meet the latest ultra-low Euro VI emissions standard; by 2020 the entire London bus fleet will be at least Euro VI. Over 40 apprenticeship roles are to be created through the programme.
Through the new £86.1 million programme, around 5,000 buses will be retrofitted with a new exhaust system that will significantly cut their emissions. This will mean that by September 2020 the entire bus fleet will be at least Euro VI standard.
Transport for London (TfL) will work with bus operators and five chosen suppliers to install the new bespoke exhaust systems which will reduce nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. Diesel Particulate filters will also be installed alongside this Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) equipment to reduce air pollution.
Currently, 700-800 new low-emission buses are being introduced to the fleet every year, with diesel-only buses being phased out. From next year, all new double-deck buses will be hybrid, electric or hydrogen. In addition, all buses within the central London Ultra-Low Emission Zone will be Euro VI hybrid standard by 2019.
The mayor’s draft Transport Strategy states that by 2037 at the latest, all 9,200 buses across London will be zero emission.
Leon Daniels, TfL’s managing director of surface transport, said: “Air pollution has reached unacceptable levels in London and we are doing everything we can to tackle the problem in one of the most ambitious programmes of its type.By retrofitting 5,000 buses – over half of our fleet – with the latest green engine technology, we will be able to reduce vehicle exhaust emissions significantly.We will continue to take action to ensure London’s bus fleet remains the greenest and cleanest of any major world city.”
More than 40 new apprenticeships are being created to support the programme. The apprentices will be employed by the five suppliers and will work across the project a range of areas, from installation and servicing to management.
Earlier this year, the Mayor announced an inaugural Low Emission Bus Zone in Putney. This is the first of 12 set to be introduced at air quality hotspots across London. Only buses that meet the toughest emission standards will be permitted to run within the zones, which also have effective bus priority measures in place to keep bus delays to a minimum and reduce unnecessary pollution caused by sitting in traffic.
From 2019, all TfL buses operating in central London in the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) will be ultra-low emission hybrid. Because of the way the network works, a significant number of double-decker buses operating in inner London will therefore be hybrid and many in outer London too.
It is also proposed that all single-decker buses operating in central London will be zero emission at tailpipe by 2020, taking the number of these vehicles up to around 300.
Supplier Amminox said that its ASDS technology from Amminex works particularly well in slow, urban driving, addressing London’s current air quality crisis at its core.
It says that 55 Euro V buses from Metroline have recently been upgraded to ASDS technology without further changes to the vehicle or the catalyst onboard. This supports a policy of responsible purchasing by not scrapping fully functional catalysts that includes rare precious metals, and is saving the taxpayers an expensive catalyst exchange, while still getting a major NOx reduction.
Christophe Schmitt, executive vice president of parent company Faurecia Clean Mobility, said: “We are pleased that London has taken this decision following on from Copenhagen and Seoul who are also deploying ASDS technology.”
Another provider, Proventia, says that its NOxBUSTER City system is specifically designed for stop-and-go city traffic where exhaust temperatures usually remain low. It uses standard commercial AdBlue for reducing NOx. The installation does not require any major changes to the bus structure. The Proventia retrofit system also includes an online emissions monitoring system. With the same technology Proventia has upgraded Euro IV, V, EEV and hybrid buses up to Euro VI emissions level for major bus operators in Finland, Sweden and Norway.
Proventia will supply technology and components and Proventia’s long-term UK partner, Excalibre, will provide the installation and servicing of the systems. Proventia and Excalibre have previously successfully cooperated on the retrofit of over 350 Euro III ADL Tridents and Darts to the Euro V standard.