A drivers’ lobby group has called for fairer legislation on exhaust emissions, claiming current rules unfairly target car drivers while ignoring disproportionately high emissions from buses.
The Alliance of British Drivers (ABD) issued the call after the latest Environmental Audit Report contained statistics from Transport for London showing buses were responsible for a quarter of harmful nitrogen oxide emissions despite accounting for only 0.2 per cent of traffic in the city.
The group is now calling for buses and taxis to be required to publish comparable per km emissions figures, for buses to be compulsorily fitted with exhaust filters, and for a change to urban transport policies which it claims are causing congestion and says gives bus companies a ‘licence to pollute’.
"For almost two decades, Local Authorities have used Smart Travel programs to encourage people to use buses and boost their revenues from parking charges, as well as attempts to implement work place parking and congestion charges all aimed at car drivers. Effectively they have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo”, said Nigel Humphries of the ABD.
He continued, "Bus services receive £2.3Bn per annum in subsidies, are being out performed by most new cars in terms of CO2 per passenger, and require disproportionate amounts of road space including bus lanes needed to help them run on schedule. This creates unnecessary congestion and extra emissions from other traffic. Bus providers have exploited this ‘sustainable transport’ misnomer to put profits before people and do the bare minimum to reduce their bus emissions."
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