Govt funds exhaust clean-up

Twenty areas across England — from Tyneside to Southampton and Bristol — have been awarded £39million of Clean Bus Technology Fund money to convert over 2,700 buses to Euro6 emission standards. Announcing the awards at the UK Bus Summit in London on 8 February, England bus minister Nus Ghani said: ‘Originally we invited authorities to apply for a funding total of £30million now and £10million in two years’ time. But we received a large number of strong applications for this round and we wanted to start realising the air quality benefits as quickly as possible.’ The total splits into £19.1million in 2017/18 and £19.99million in 2018/19, which the Department for Transport says will fund the conversion of 2,768 buses to low emission standards in 20 separate schemes. The biggest award — totalling £4.5million — goes to the West Midlands, with Transport for West Midlands securing £3million over the two years to convert 364 buses on routes into Birmingham city centre and Coventry City Council £1.5million in 2018/19 for a further 104 (out of a fleet of 150) operated by National Express West Midlands, which is contributing £240,500 towards those conversions. NatEx, First Midland…