New funding to support cleaner buses and air quality monitoring

Hot on the heels of an indicative funding allocation of £27.9m from the government for our Bus Service Improvement Plan, at least half a million pounds more will soon be spent making buses which operate in and around Brighton & Hove ‘super low emission’.

The further funding follows our successful bid of £499,500 from the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra). 

The money will be used to upgrade the exhausts of approximately 40 buses with newer, cleaner parts. This will reduce the emissions they produce in Brighton & Hove and the wider Sussex area.

This work will be in addition to 100 buses previously converted under similar schemes since 2014. Brighton & Hove Buses have also invested £17.8 in 54 hybrid buses which are powered by a battery when they travel through the city centre.

Among others, the newly retrofitted buses will service routes across the city centre and Sussex, for example those routes that start and finish at Churchill Square and the Old Steine.

Additional funding for air quality monitoring

In addition, we will also be leading a project with £376,800 of new Defra air quality funding to improve air quality monitoring and provide information on pollution and behaviour across the county.

This fund will also raise awareness of the risks of pollution and the health benefits of cleaner air and emission free travel. It follows a joint bid to the national air quality grant, made between ourselves and other local councils across East and West Sussex.

The work to reduce air pollution and raise awareness will include working with taxi trade, events, and schools.

More good news for city bus travel

Councillor Steve Davis, Co-Chair of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability committee said: “This is another positive step towards lowering emissions across Brighton & Hove and reaching our goal of being a carbon neutral city by 2030.

“We want more people using public transport to get around, including our fantastic network of buses. It’s great that as a result of this successful funding bid, more of our buses will soon be ‘super’ low emission.

“Air pollution is one of the greatest environmental risks to human health. The quality of air we breathe affects everyone and so the more we can do to cut emissions, the better it will be for everyone.”

Managing Director of Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company Ed Wills said: “We take our role of providing bus services to the community seriously. 

"This is why we have invested just under £20 million in the last few years in buses that operate emissions free in the Ultra Low Emissions Zone and the Air Quality Management Areas. We recently launched our climate change strategy where our goal is to make all buses emissions free by 2035.

"Retrofitting older buses that operate in and around Brighton & Hove to super low emissions helps improve air quality for everyone today as we head towards our target.” 

More information

Retrofitting the exhausts of the most frequent older buses (registered nine or ten years ago) will convert them from Euro-V to substantially cleaner Euro-VI emission standards that cut nitrogen monoxide and the harmful nitrogen dioxide.  

This complies with the conditions of the city’s existing Ultra low Emissions Zone and aims to accelerate emission reduction through all Air Quality Management Areas and along all bus routes.

To avoid more carbon emissions caused by manufacturing, we want to avoid scrapping vehicles prematurely.  The retrofits are a resourceful way of utilising existing bus assets that are not yet nearing end of life. When the time comes to replace vehicles, we will want this to be with zero exhaust technology. 

Buses in Brighton & Hove

Almost one fifth of buses operating through the city’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), a wider part of the city centre and pulling away from bus stops now run on a non-plug-in battery. While these buses are not zero emissions, they are a stepping stone towards this - and are cleaner than the buses they replaced.

They do not lead to increased emissions in areas where the diesel generator is running. 

All four of the council’s Nitrogen Dioxide monitoring positions on North Street showed a reduction between 2016 and 2019 that continued during the pandemic.

Air quality levels in some parts of the city centre remain above national limits; however, the area exceeding national air quality limits is smaller and the council will continue to work with operators and vehicle fleet managers to achieve sustained emissions reductions to help deliver healthier air.

Our Air Quality Action Plan will shortly be available for public consultation.