The new London Mayor has announced plans to combat diesel
emissions in London, while Volvo announces their 1,000th Hybrid bus sale.
From GLA’s press release
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has
announced today (13 May 2016) that he will launch a formal policy consultation
in a matter of weeks on a major package of measures to tackle air pollution in London.
The new Mayor made the announcement
during a visit to Sir John Cass's Foundation Primary School, in Aldgate, which
has delivered a number of green initiatives including a green roof garden, as
the school is close to busy roads and in an area known for high pollution
levels.
Announcing the consultation, the Mayor
said: "I want to act before an emergency, which is why we need big, bold
and sometimes difficult policies if London is to meet the scale of the
challenge.”
Almost 10,000 Londoners die every year
because of polluted air according to the latest medical research. London does not currently meet the legal
requirements for pollutants such as Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and new research
published by the World Health Organisation just yesterday (12 May 2016) showed
that London has breached safe levels of pollutant particles known as PM10.
The proposals in the consultation will
include:
·
Extending the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to the North Circular Road and the South
Circular Road and the possibility of bringing forward the introduction earlier
than 2020. Under current plans the ULEZ
will only operate within the Congestion Charging Zone and it is due to come in
from 2020.
·
Implementing an extra charge on the most polluting vehicles entering central London
using the Congestion Charge payment and
enforcement system from 2017 (this would not mean an increase in the Congestion Charge but just the method for
collecting the extra charge from people driving the most polluting vehicles)
·
Introducing ULEZ standards for heavy vehicles London-wide from 2020
·
Giving the go-ahead for Transport for
London (TfL) to start work on the costs and challenges of implementing a diesel
scrappage scheme as part of a wider national scheme delivered by the Government
·
Proposals to work with the Government
to tackle air pollution on a national
and international level.
Proposals for TfL to lead by example:
·
Introducing self-imposed ULEZ standards a year earlier for TfL
double decker buses
·
Implementing clean bus corridors – tackling the worst pollution hotspots by concentrating cleaner buses on the dirtiest
routes
·
Expanding the ULEZ retrofit programme to 3,000 buses outside the central zone (up from
2,000)
·
Purchasing only hybrid or zero-emission double-decker buses from 2018.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said:
“I have been elected with a clear
mandate to clean up London’s air – our biggest environmental challenge.
“I know from personal experience that
the city’s air is damaging people’s health as I only recently started
suffering from asthma as an adult. Many
pollution hotspots in London are around schools, exposing our children to
dangerously polluted air and putting them at greater risk of respiratory
conditions like mine.
“The previous Mayor was too slow on this
issue and the Government has been hopelessly inactive and it’s Londoners who are suffering as a
result. We need to speed up our efforts
so I’ll be launching a consultation before
the summer to kick-start the process. As well as my proposals, I’ll be seeking views on other ways we
can do more to clean up the city’s air.
“In the past, London has only responded after an emergency,
like with the Clean Air Act, which followed the Great London Smogs of the
1950s. But I want to act before an emergency, which is why we need big, bold
and sometimes difficult policies if London is to match the scale of the
challenge.”
Also, the notes section says:
Measures underway the Mayor is
committed to:
·
Implement the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to set minimum emission standards for
all vehicles entering central London from September 2020
·
Deliver 3,500 hybrid/electric double decker buses and 300 zero emission buses
in central London by 2020
·
Retrofit 2,000 Euro V buses across London to meet Euro VI standard by 2020
(subject to funding)
·
All buses to meet the Euro VI standard (eg retrofit, hybrid, Euro
VI) by 2023 (subject to funding)
·
Require all newly licensed taxis to be zero emission capable from 2018, with up to £65m in funding to help taxi drivers make this transition
·
Facilitate a step change in electric vehicle charging infrastructure,
including additional support for residential
areas and a rapid charging network with dedicated sites for taxis (£23m in funding received from
Government)
·
Robustly enforcing the Non Road Mobile Machinery Low Emission Zone
to reduce emissions from construction equipment (subject to extra powers
from Government)
·
Continuing the Mayor’s Air Quality Fund to help boroughs address local air
quality hotspots.
·
Continue the LoCity programme working with manufacturers, operators and businesses
to reduce emissions from HGVs and vans (first annual conference 25 May
2016).
I'd like to add that Sadiq Khan has said that he won’t be ordering any more 3 door, 2 staircase New Routemaster
buses. This may not be the end of the New Routemaster but the design has
evolved and we now have the Alexander Dennis Enviro400H City and Volvo (SRM) Son of Routemaster. They are bought
by private bus operators instead of TFL with the 3 door 2 staircase NRM’s.
The reason why Sadiq won’t
be adding more New Routemasters is because of his election policies. I said in
my previous article
that the Mayoral candidates won’t be buying more NRM's, in favour of increasing
zero emission buses.
In late February 2016, the previous mayor
announced an order for 195 NRM’s. I do not have any information on
those last '195' (3 door 2 staircase) New Routemasters (to increase to 1,000)
whether they will continue to be rolled out or not. Please notify me in the
comments section if you have any information about the last 195 NRM rollout?
In other news, Volvo
buses announce their 1,000 milestone with Hybrid sales in the UK.
From Volvo Buses
The reliability, fuel efficiency and overall performance of the popular
B5LH has resulted in Volvo Bus passing
the 1,000 sales mark in the UK.
The B5LH is a low-floor hybrid double deck bus chassis manufactured by
Volvo Bus. Arriva was the first
company to try out the new hybrid in the UK when six were supplied
following the launch in 2009 and to date
2,535 Volvo Hybrids have been sold worldwide.
Available with Wrightbus, ADL or MCV
bodywork, the Volvo B5LH is a versatile chassis that can be tailored to meet
the customer’s specific requirements. It is the only current double decker of its
type in service in the UK that uses a parallel hybrid drive system.
Delivering proven best in class fuel
economy when compared to a conventional diesel double deck bus, the B5LH offers
high reliability. The vehicle provides complete integration of the engine and
the hybrid systems, all of which are designed and manufactured by Volvo Bus.
Phil Owen, Commercial Sales Director
for Volvo Bus, said: “Reaching the milestone of 1,000 Volvo Hybrid vehicles delivered in
the UK is a significant sales achievement.
The B5LH has been giving outstanding results here and worldwide and
thanks to the reliability, fuel savings and overall performance of this bus, we have worked with our
longstanding customers to keep selling this popular vehicle.
“With ongoing development of the B5LH in combination with the new versatile bodybuilder options, we hope
to continue to retain the sales success we have seen in recent years.”
Richard Shillingford, Engineering
Director for RATP Dev London, who
will be taking delivery of the 1000th
Volvo B5LH added: “One of the biggest considerations in
any vehicle procurement is fuel efficiency and reliability and we felt that
Volvo Bus’ performance gave us what we were
looking for with our new fleet additions going forwards.”
A long-standing customer of Volvo Bus
is Go-Ahead London, whose
Engineering Director is Richard Harrington, who said: “We are one of the largest operators of Volvo buses in the UK and Ireland and the
biggest bus operator in London and our continued patronage of the product
is based on our previous good experience of excellent in-service performance
and reliability.”
I’m
aware of the proposed Leeds Trolleybus that was rejected by the government; you
can read their reports below.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92
