Up to £5.7 million available for bus retrofitting

The Scottish Government is providing up to £5.7 million to help bus, coach and community transport operators to comply with Low Emission Zones (LEZs) through retrofitting technology.

A fourth round of the Bus Emissions Abatement Retrofit Programme (BEAR) has now opened to support the costs of installing technology to reduce diesel emissions or to convert buses to electric drivetrains.

This builds on three previous rounds of funding which has provided £12.2 million to ensure 762 buses can meet required emissions standards. Working in partnership with accredited technology providers, Transport Scotland will continue to monitor the air quality performance of retrofitted buses to ensure they perform as expected.

Minister for Transport Graeme Dey said:

“To protect public health and improve air quality, we’re continuing to support the introduction of Low Emission Zones across Scotland.

“Each fully occupied bus in our towns and cities can remove the equivalent of 75 cars from the road. It’s for this reason that choosing bus is already a positive choice for air quality – and even more so if that bus is retrofitted to meet emissions standards.

“Scotland has good air quality, but for the oldest and youngest in our society and those with existing health conditions, air quality remains an issue. It is critical that we have LEZs introduced in our four biggest cities by 2022, and this support is another way we’re helping bus, coach and community transport providers to comply with forthcoming emissions standards.”

Stevie More, Engineering Director at Lothian Buses said:

“Lothian are fully committed to improving air quality across all our operations in Edinburgh and the Lothian’s, in line with the Scottish Government’s ambition to have the best air quality in Europe. This announcement from The Scottish Government of a further round of BEAR funding is welcomed by the industry as we all strive to meet the Low Emission Zone targets across Scotland.”

More information on the Bus Emissions Abatement Retrofit Programme is available on the Transport Scotland webpage.