BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has launched five new ‘clean air’ Low Emission Bus Zones in some of the capital’s ‘worst polluted hotspots’.
Only buses that meet the cleanest emission standards will operate within the new zones, which have been delivered through a combination of new and retrofitted vehicles.
There are now seven Low Emission Bus Zones in the capital, including the five new zones announced today plus two zones launched last year in Putney High Street and on Brixton Road.
It is estimated that annual bus nitrogen oxide emissions will be reduced by an average of 90 per cent along the seven bus zones delivered so far.
The five new zones are Camberwell to New Cross, Wandsworth to St John Hill, High Road Haringey to Green Lanes, A12 Eastern Avenue to Homerton Road, and Edgware Road Kilburn to Maida Vale.
Khan said: “Pollution from vehicles including buses are responsible for over half the harmful emissions we breathe.
“Low Emission Bus Zones are an effective way of dramatically reducing pollution and improving the health of thousands of Londoners who live or work along the worst air quality hotspots.
“The results in Putney and Brixton speak for themselves, which is why I am committing to delivering all 12 routes ahead of schedule in 2019 rather than 2020.
“These zones are part of my wider plan to transform the air we breathe, including the introduction of the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London in just under five months time in April 2019.
“I’m doing everything in my power to improve our air, but with half of the UK’s roads which exceed legal limits located in London, the Government urgently needs to step up and allow us to access national funding for cities and to fund a national vehicle scrappage scheme to rid London’s streets of the dirtiest vehicles now.”
