Government pledges £6.2 million more to help buses go green

The money will be used to retrofit older coaches and buses.

The Scottish Government is providing another £6.2 million to retrofit older buses and coaches in a bid to make them more environmentally friendly (David Cheskin/PA)

The Scottish Government is investing more cash in greener buses as part of efforts to meet its “world leading ambition” of cutting car journeys by a fifth by the end of this decade.

Ministers have set the target of reducing the amount of miles travelled in cars by 20% by 2030 – but to help achieve this, transport minister Graeme Dey said that buses “must be up to the challenge”.

A further £6.2 million has been awarded in grants to 20 bus and coach operators, to help them with the cost of retrofitting vehicles to help reduce emissions and make them more environmentally friendly.

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The money is the latest phase of the Bus Emission Abatement Retrofit (Bear) scheme, and will see 379 older buses and coaches adapted – taking the total number of vehicles to have benefited to more than 1,000.

Mr Dey said: “Buses will have a key role to play in our world-leading ambition to reduce car kilometres by 20% by 2030 – but of course, they must be up to the challenge.

“This additional funding to retrofit mid-life buses adds to the £12.4 million we have invested through the Bear programme in the previous three rounds, helping to support the delivery of Scotland’s Low Emission Zones

“We all want our air quality to be the best in Europe, but for the oldest and youngest in our society and those with existing health conditions, air quality remains an issue.”

To help with this, the Scottish Government is bringing in Low Emission Zones (LEZs) in four cities next year, with Mr Dey adding the Bear fund will “continue to help support our ambition to protect public health and improve our air quality”.