Efforts to reduce harmful emissions and clean up buses - and other road vehicles - in the UK began in 1992 when the European Union introduced new standards for all vehicles in member states. The first Europe-wide euro emissions standards were introduced in July 1992 and the regulations weren’t anywhere near as stringent as they are today. That said, the fitment of catalytic converters became compulsory on all new cars, and Euro I required the switch to unleaded petrol. Back then, only hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide were tested, along with particulate matter in the case of diesel engines. Over the years, the regulations have become stricter and the limits lowered.
Further standards, known as "Euro II", "Euro III" and "Euro IV" were introduced over the following thirteen years each of which meant stricter controls on the emission of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide. Euro V regulations, introduced in 2011 were a great step forward with the introduction of particulate filters (DPFs) for diesel vehicles, along with lower limits across the board. Cars meeting Euro 5 standards emit the equivalent of one grain of sand per kilometre driven.
The current standards, Euro VI, introduced in 2015, identified nitrogen oxide emissions as a major contributory factor in respiratory diseases and concentrated on reducing them, slashing the permitted limits from 0.18 grammes per kilometre to just 0.09gm/km
So how has this affected Lancaster's buses? Before last January, the majority of Stagecoach buses in the city were designed to only Euro IV or Euro V standards.
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| But this one only meets Euro IV |
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| This bus meets Euro V standards |
Because of high pollution levels, Lancaster city centre is an Air Quality Management Area and the City Council is required to come up with ways to reduce them. In 2015, in conjunction with Lancashire County Council, a successful bid was made to the Clean Bus Technology Fund and a sum of £288,000 was awarded, which would have retro-fitted Selective Catalytic Technology to seventeen double-deck buses similar to those in the photo above to reduce emission levels to the lower, Euro VI, limits.
This was a new project for both Stagecoach and the council and both organisations would concede that the procurement process took much longer than planned, not helped by a potential supplier going bankrupt in the middle of it. Earlier this year the whole project got overtaken by events when Stagecoach invested £3.8M of its own money to purchase a fleet of eighteen new double-deckers (shown below) that were fitted with the latest Euro VI engines as well as stop-start technology, thereby achieving a greater reduction in pollution than was hoped for from the Clean Air Funding.
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| One of Stagecoach's new double-decks with Euro VI engines |
The new buses were put to work on Service 1 between Heysham and the University with the older Euro V-engined buses moving to Service 100.
Next September, following investment of a further £3M, Stagecoach will receive another 14 new double-deckers for use on service 100, with the older Euro V-engined vehicles that were to be the subject of the original Clean Bus Fund project moving elsewhere in the Stagecoach empire. When these new buses are in service 49% of all Stagecoach journeys in the city will be operated by Euro VI engined buses and a further 28% by buses meeting Euro V regulations meaning that 77% of journeys will be Euro V or better.
A new use for the funding?
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| A bus meeting Euro IV standards that could be converted? |
But what about that £288,000 that was never spent? After discussions between the parties concerned a plan has been agreed that will further reduce emissions from buses, not just in Lancaster but also in Carnforth, where the town centre also has Air Quality Management issues. Stagecoach's older buses, which meet only Euro IV regulations, which were current between 2005 and 2011, cannot be fitted with Selective Catalytic Technology as was originally proposed for the double-deck fleet. Instead it is proposed to fit a smaller number, possibly seven, of them with brand new Euro VI engines manufactured by Cummins. The cost of this is such that Stagecoach would not normally consider it a commercial proposition, but the grant funding makes all the difference. The proportion of bus journeys operated by Euro VI engined buses would increase from 49% to 61% with a massive 89% of journeys being operated by Euro V or better engined-vehicles. Euro VI journeys in Carnforth will more than double from 30% to 63%.
Euro VI is unlikely to be the end of the matter and stricter emissions standards can be expected from the EU in the coming years. Whether or not we will see the benefits of these here in the UK is, of course, unknown but we would hope that nobody would see "dirtier air" as a benefit of leaving the Union!
The Bus Users Group would like to acknowledge the help of the RAC website in compiling this article and there is much more information on Euro standards available by clicking this link.