CNG Buses rethink a victory for common sense and clean air

Tuesday, 04 April 2006 10:00

Total Environment Centre Urban Campaigner Mr Leigh Martin said “CNG buses produce much lower emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants such as carbon monoxide and fine particles. It is pleasing that the government has listened to calls to purchase more of these cleaner vehicles to renew the State Transit fleet”.

The State Government had previously decided that it would no longer purchase CNG buses in favour of diesel vehicles however concerns about emissions and rising diesel fuel costs have forced a rethink and the Government has just announced that it will purchase 255 CNG powered buses for the Sydney fleet and 250 buses for the Sydney and Newcastle fleets to replace older diesel buses. Newcastle depots and some Sydney depots lack refuelling facilities for CNG buses necessitating the purchase of some diesel vehicles. Importantly these diesel buses will include newer Euro 5 engine technology to improve performance over current models.

“Lower fuel and health costs associated with CNG buses make them the obvious choice wherever refuelling facilities permit their use”, Mr Martin said.

CNG buses have lower tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases – particularly CO2 – and significantly lower emissions of air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) than diesel than Euro 3 standard diesel buses currently being purchased by State Transit.

One Euro 3 diesel bus travelling 41,529 km/year would emit approximately 14.12 kg of particulate matter (PM) per year. In contrast, a CNG bus would be expected to emit 0.83 kg of PM per year. This has a direct effect on the health of Sydney residents and the costs of treating respiratory illnesses.

TEC has called on the government to extend CNG refuelling facilities to more depots in Sydney and Newcastle to allow CNG buses to be extended to all areas.

“The case for CNG buses is compelling. The government should build on this decision by extending CNG refuelling to depots that currently lack this capacity. This will ensure that all areas are able to benefit from having buses that use this cheaper, cleaner fuel in the future”, Mr Martin said.