Mayor of London announces first green bus routes

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has confirmed plans for the first of a series of Low Emission Bus Zones, prioritising the greenest buses on the worst polluted routes.

From February next year, the first route along Putney High Street will see exclusive use of hybrid or diesel buses with top-of-the-range anti-pollutant systems that meet or exceed Euro VI emissions standards.  The second route - between Brixton and Streatham - will be converted in October 2017.

These are the first Low Emission Bus Zones the Mayor promised in his manifesto and which will all be operational by 2020.

These are expected to reduce NOx emissions from buses along these routes by around 84 per cent. They will be focussed on London’s worst air quality hotspots outside central London and prioritised in areas where buses would otherwise contribute significantly to road transport emissions.



The Low Emission Bus Zones will also incorporate a number of changes to the road layout to ensure buses have priority over other traffic and are able to keep moving, cutting emissions from unnecessary idling and speeding up journey times.



Other measures to reduce emissions from the capital’s bus fleet, include making sure all buses operating in the central Ultra Low Emission Zone comply a year earlier by 2019, meaning each of the 3,100 double-deck buses operating in the zone will be Euro VI hybrid.



The ULEZ retrofit programme will be expanded with up to 3,000 buses outside the central zone. And from 2018, only hybrid or zero-emission double-decker buses will be procured.