Banning all diesel buses from planned Clean Air Zones could see eight out of 10 bus services cut and have a 'devastating' impact on local communities, a former government adviser has warned.
David Begg, visiting professor at Plymouth University and former chairman of the Government’s Commission for Integrated Transport, called on local authorities to target older diesel cars, which he argued make up 41% of nitrogen dioxide emissions from road transport, compared with 30% for diesel vans and 6% for buses and coaches.
He warned that banning all diesel vehicles from city centres would 'demonise and penalise' the latest generation of cleaner diesel buses, which deliver a 95% reduction in harmful emissions compared to earlier models.
A blanket ban on diesel buses - as planned by Oxford and Cambridge, which want to prevent all disel vehicles from entering city centres - could prompt an 80% cut in bus services, leading to a 22% cut in employment; an 11% reduction in adult skills; and a 29% increase in social deprivation, professor Begg argued.
Local authorities that breach EU air pollution levels have until March next year to publish their draft plans to tackle air pollution in their areas.
Prof Begg said: 'While local government rightly try to take dirty diesel vehicles off the streets, there is a danger they will demonise and penalise a new generation of independently-tested clean diesel buses that are in fact part of the solution, not the problem, to excessive air pollution.
'We must be aware of unintended consequences of waging war on diesel, and avoid tarring these incredibly clean buses with the same brush as the toxic car fleet on our roads today. Instead, we need to tackle the older diesel cars and vans that are clogging up our streets. If buses are viewed as the problem, and not integral to the solution, then the unintended consequence will be more polluting cars on the road and poorer air quality.'
He suggested that fitting older bus engines with exhaust clean-up technology – known as retrofitting – or repowering the bus with a new engine and exhaust after-treatment system can bring them up to Euro VI emissions standards - the top standard.
This is the quickest and most cost-effective way for local authorities to tackle roadside pollution, he argued.
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