Musselburgh Should Be Priority For Greener Buses

East Lothian Greens say advice they have received from local transport operators shows that the local authority needs to start lobbying for low emissions buses on routes through Musselburgh in a bid to tackle the town’s air pollution problem.

 

It follows last month’s discovery by Musselburgh-based Green campaigner Jason Rose of potentially dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide from vehicle exhausts in the High Street and surrounding areas.

 

On average there are 500 buses a day on Musselburgh High Street. Now it has emerged that at least one bus operator is aware of the pollution problem and they say it is a factor in deciding where they will roll out new low emissions vehicles.

 

Mr Rose said:

“I contacted First Bus and Lothian Buses about the problem and their responses suggest East Lothian Council need to raise their game and start lobbying to have the most polluting vehicles phased out of Musselburgh. Lothian Buses say they already operate low emissions buses on the 30 service, and that their aim is to target cleaner buses in areas where reduced emissions levels will be of greatest benefit.

“East Lothian Council have so far failed to keep the people of Musselburgh informed about this important issue. Rather than pinning hopes on moving bus stops and revising traffic lights they should be tackling the pollution at source.

“I would urge anyone who supports the call for low emissions buses to let EastLothian Greens know and we will press the case for Musselburgh to be given priority.”

 

 

The response from Lothian Buses on the issue of low emissions vehicles:

 

“Thank you for your interest in the Get There Greener bus you saw in Musselburgh last week.  This bus has been retrofitted with a sophisticated exhaust system called an SCRT which reduces levels of key air pollutants by between 70 and 99% depending on the pollutant.  It is one of 45 converted vehicles in our fleet which have been so converted over the last couple of years.  All buses currently operating the service 30 have been fitted (though not all have the branding yet).  The 40 uses a mix of new (ergo current emission standard) buses and some retrofits – again these have been converted already but are waiting for the vinyls to be applied.  The kit is a relatively straightforward fit to our single-decker buses as they have engines in line with the aisle of the bus and therefore have a fair amount of space underneath, whereas the double-decks have transverse engines and almost no space.  Fortunately our technology partner has just completed a retrofit kit for double-decks and so we have one trial fitment in place just now and will assess how this performs over the summer before committing to any further conversions.

 

“Our greener buses, which include the SCRT retrofits, our diesel-electric hybrid buses, and our newest conventional diesels, are targeted to areas of our operation where we feel that a) modal shift has the greatest opportunity and b) local air quality management areas where their reduced emissions levels will be of greatest benefit.  In considering point b we also take cognisance of potential forthcoming problems so that issues can be addressed before they develop further.  East Lothian for example currently does not have any air quality management areas but we are aware that NOx levels on Musselburgh High Street are being monitored therefore initiatives like this can help.  We work closely with the relevant LA with this planning, so while the final decision on route allocation is ours, greener buses are always placed as carefully as possible.”

 

First Bus said:

 

"Our Musselburgh depot is currently receiving refurbished buses from one of our sister Company's [sic] that are much improving the Euro Emissions of the fleet."