Tourist buses operating in Bath are now subject to tough new controls as a result of the intervention of the local highway authority, spurred by public concern over their environmental impact. The Government’s traffic commissioner for the region introduced the new rules following a May public inquiry into the request from Bath and North East Somerset Council for a ‘traffic regulation condition’, setting out limits on the numbers of tour buses and other restrictions. Residents associations and local MP Don Foster – who has attacked the ‘noisy tour buses blocking traffic while driving around almost empty’ – pushed for the controls. Bath and North East Somerset says that, in 2004, there were four tour bus operators operating a total of 25 buses on the street at the same time and, with an average age of 25 and some as old as 40, they were also causing pollution. The commissioner decided that no more than 10 tour buses are allowed to operate at any one time, although this excludes duplicate vehicles where pre-booked passenger demand cannot be met with the existing fleet. Only specified bus stops can be used, and waiting times are restricted to around 10 minutes. It also requires 80% of all tour buses to meet the Euro III low exhaust-emission standard, rising to 100% from April 2008, and loud speakers are banned. Martin Curtis, managing director of Bath’s CitySightseeing, which is now the only operator in the city, believes the council was too hard on the tour companies – ‘trying to use parking attendants to control the buses’ – forcing three of the four to quit. ‘The council thought it used to be a free-for-all – even though this was not the case,’ he said. ‘Well before these rules came in, we planned to replace our buses with eight state-of-the-art vehicles costing £200,000 with the communication system installed. We have never used loud speakers.’ A council spokeswoman said that, while the problem had improved over the last two years, the new rules would ensure there was not a return to the situation in 2004. While monitoring buses was ongoing, the new rules were already considered a success.