Tuesday 31st May 2005

Pollution is bus-generated: ABD

Drivers' group throws down gauntlet to Greenpeace

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Major polluter stops for breather

London's air quality has been damned for breaching EU particle emissions levels on 36 days already this year. Yet anti-car groups like Greenpeace have not called for a bus-free day that would show city-dwellers that much pollution is due to buses and not car-related.

ABD spokesman Mark McArthur-Christie said "Buses are a major source of the fine particles that are clogging London's air and Londoners' lungs. As someone who regularly cycles and rides a motorcycle in the City, I know at first hand how filthy some of them are. It's time London's authorities woke up to the better ways to get around town."

Oxford, another heavily bus-reliant city that has banned cars from its centre, has air quality that is so bad it is equivalent to smoking more than 61 cigarettes each day.

The ABD believes that the introduction of the Congestion Charge makes bus pollution even worse, with more buses on the road than ever before. This is backed by Transport for London's own figures which show that private cars make up less than half of the traffic entering the congestion charge zone. The buses, taxis, vans and trucks that make up the majority of the traffic all have the larger diesel engines that are particularly bad for particulate emissions, with bus exhausts containing the two most carcinogenic chemicals (3-NBA and 1,8-DNP) known to science.

New diesel cars have to meet stringent EU4 emission regulations from the end of 2005 which will drastically cut their contribution to the capital's particulates. Petrol cars produce negligible quantities of this pollutant.

Cars have cleaned up their act. Given that a family of four travelling by car is the most environmentally friendly way to travel, its time for buses and trains to stop polluting our towns and cities with impunity, and long overdue for Greenpeace to call for a Bus Free Day.

[pounana]

as a committed cyclist, I hate to have to say this, but I completely agree. Cars are designed for people to bounce off them, and are driven by people who own them and care about what scratches they pick up. Also, you can stand next to a car revving up at the lights and not be engulfed in a sticky black cloud of un-burned hydrocarbons.

The buses are driven by people under time pressures, who make some very optimistic judgements at junctions, red lights and lane changes. They also throw unbelievable amounts of crap out into the air. Worse still, there's nowhere to park your bike on one (viz Montreal and various other cities).

As for goods vehicles, which certainly come in for the same criticism, why the hell are they on the roads during the day? If we could shift HGV traffic into the evenings, they could travel more efficiently, cause less traffic and would bring more of the workforce into a 24 hour economy, thereby freeing up roadspace, public transport and creating extra jobs.

In short. Private emissions testing bodies, with the balls to sue councils for breaking their own rules. As soon as the costs of maintaining their vehicles to the standards expected of the rest of us are factored in to the equation... oh, the congestion charge will go up again...

Bicycle anyone?