Go-Ahead to deploy air filtering buses across the UK

Our air filtering buses are set to hit the streets in six more regions across England. We are deploying an air filtering bus in Brighton, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford, Plymouth and Crawley/Gatwick, as part of our commitment to run the greenest fleet of buses in the UK. They will enter into service in summer 2020 to demonstrate that buses are part of the solution to tackling poor air quality.

We initially trialed the air-filtering bus on a Bluestar bus in Southampton. Initial tests indicated that just one bus could remove 65g of pollutants from the air in 100 days – equivalent to the weight of a tennis ball. The single-decker bus has an air filtering system on the roof, which is made up of three fans that suck ultra-fine particles and dirt (known as PM10) as it travels on the streets.

In addition to rolling out the air filtering bus into six more regions, we will be introducing five more air-cleaning vehicles in Southampton in early February. This will cover the whole route in the city centre.

Health problems associated with outdoor air pollution are linked to 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs estimates that regular exposure to particulate air pollution can reduce life expectancy by six months on average.