Cleaner vehicle buses in Winchester

This paper reports the results of a package of measures, contained within a Quality Bus Partnership, designed to reduce the environmental impact of the local bus fleet in Winchester. These measures were implemented by Hampshire County Council, Stagecoach Bus Company and Winchester City Council as part of the EU-sponsored CIVITAS MIRACLES project which ran from 2002 to 2006 and whose aims included reducing the environmental impact of transport at the local level while increasing urban accessibility. It follows on from a previous paper published in Transport Policy in 2007 looking at the success of measures implemented in Winchester to improve bus service quality and information. These implemented measures included the introduction of 13 new Euro III buses, re-powering 10 older buses from Euro I to Euro III standard, adding particulate traps to four Euro 11 buses and the demonstration of two different diesel/electric hybrid buses during two week-long trials in 2003 and 2004 along the Park and Ride route. In order to evaluate the effects of these measures, data was collected from the bus operator Stagecoach regarding their fleet of 59 vehicles in Winchester. This included their emission standard, reliability, average age and smoke test results. Emission modelling was carried out using a vehicle activity model on a key city centre street to assess emissions savings as a result of the implemented measures. In addition, two bus questionnaire surveys were carried out to assess passenger's views of the two diesel/electric hybrid buses used during the trials. Conclusions and recommendations have been made with regard to the environmental impact of the cleaner Winchester bus fleet and the contribution it has made to reducing emissions from motor vehicles in the Winchester central area. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.