Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-05-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to require bus operators to use greener fuel.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
A series of measures have been brought in in recent years to encourage bus operators to use greener fuels.
Under the Green Bus Fund which ran from 2009-2014, £89m of Government funding helped purchase over 1200 buses. These vehicles met strict rules covering reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, compared with ordinary buses, taking into account both the production and consumption of the fuel. The Low Emission Bus Scheme (LEBS), announced last year, will provide over £30m to help buy several hundred more low emission buses.
The Government is also encouraging the uptake of greener vehicles through the Bus Service Operators Grant low carbon emission bus incentive under which eligible services receive an additional 6p per kilometre.
The Bus Services Bill, which was introduced into the House of Lords on 19th May, will provide local transport authorities with new powers to specify the emission standards to be met by local bus services – including through franchising and, with sufficient support from bus operators, under enhanced partnership arrangements.
The Government has also invested over £26m since 2011 under the Clean Bus and Clean Vehicle Technology Funds for local authorities in pollution hotspots across England to retrofit 1000s of buses, and other vehicles, with pollution reducing technology. This includes converting some buses to either natural gas or to electric propulsion.
