Government Money To Clean Up Bus Emissions

The Scottish Government announced funding of £243,000 for retrofitting older Edinburgh buses with emission reducing filters today.

The equipment, commonly known as Particulate Matter Traps, will bring the buses up to European Union standards and are expected to bring an 85 per cent reduction in bus particulate emissions.

The funding of over £500,000 for both Edinburgh and Glasgow buses comes from the Scottish Government's Bus Retro-fitting Fund where Councils match the funding provided.

Scottish Transport Minister Keith Brown said the awards "will greatly improve air quality in our urban areas, reducing unhealthy, sooty emissions on our transport network and across our cities."

Eligible buses are those in category Euro II or higher which are also fully DDA compliant.

The Euro II standard ran from 1996 to 2000. All new buses have had to be DDA compliant since 2000. Current European Union engine emission limits are Euro V.

The 85 per cent reduction is calculated from reduction of a Euro II engine with a Particulate Matter emission limit of 0.299g/km brought in line with a Euro V engine with a Particulate Matter emission limit of 0.045 g/km.