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Electric buses help boost city's air quality

Andrew Turner
BBC News, Norfolk
First Eastern Counties Buses Five Norwich Electrics double decker buses are painted grey and purple, and feature an electric flash logo. The vehicles are standing in the depot in the night, with the area lit by street lamps. Each displaying First Eastern Counties with the First Group logo displayed on the destination boardFirst Eastern Counties Buses
The Norwich Electrics fleet became operational in 2024 following a multi-million pound investment by First Bus and Norfolk County Council through a government grant

A fleet of battery-powered buses is being credited with bringing air quality in a city within legal limits.

In 2023, monitoring in Norwich showed a peak of 38.5 micrograms of nitrogen dioxide in a cubic metre of air. The legal limit in the UK and the EU is 20.

Norfolk County Council said figures show the city level fell to 16.5 micrograms per cubic metre during eight of the past 11 months.

Graham Plant, cabinet member for transport and infrastructure, said: "After all the hard work put into bringing these buses to Norfolk, it's great to see the impact the switch to electric can have for our environment."

Andrew Turner/BBC Graham Plant, wearing a flat cap and tinted spectacles. He has a greying beard and moustache, and is wearing a white shirt, grey tie, and black coat. He is pictured outside the shelter building at Postwick Park and Ride on the east of Norwich. The building is built of red brick and red concrete tile, with blue pillars, gutters and fascia panels, and white windows and some cladding panels in the gables.Andrew Turner/BBC
Councillor Graham Plant says the private bus operator First Bus invested £23m on the back of a £14.7m government grant to introduce 76 battery powered buses

Councillor Plant added: " These new electric vehicles produce zero tailpipe emissions, which means a cleaner, greener environment for people to live, work and enjoy.

"With the Roundtree Way depot now operating a fully electric fleet, Norfolk really is a leader in sustainable public transport in the East of England.

"First Bus put their hand in their pocket, they put in several million pounds - more than what the government put in - to make electric work in Norwich.

"That is really important to understand, it's not just the government paying for this; operators are also part of the answer."

Martin Giles/BBC Asher Minns is wearing a light pink shirt, and a cream coloured jacket without a tie. He has medium length greying hair, swept back, and he has a full beard and moustache. He wears black-rimmed glasses, and is standing next to a hedge, with a grass area behind him.Martin Giles/BBC
Asher Minns, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, says zero emission buses will have helped reduce pollution in the centre of Norwich

Asher Minns, executive director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, based at the University of East Anglia, said the figures were encouraging, but he would prefer to see a longer monitoring period to be certain about the reduction in emissions.

"There is no reason not to think that the electric buses are contributing to the improvement in air quality in those city centre bits where the air quality was really poor and where the buses are frequent.

"Air quality improvement really did start from a pretty low base, definitely linked to diesel buses, not least because these were end-of-life buses that were being sent to Norwich, whereas now we've got state-of-the-art electric buses on quite a lot of the routes."

He said Norwich, although famous for being flat, was prone to a phenomenon called thermal inversion.

"[This] is where air pollution can sit on top of the hill that is Norwich in winter on cold days and on hot days," he added.

"That isn't pollution from Norwich; we accumulate pollution from the continent and the south east, so there is a bit of geography and topography in there which isn't in the control of us.

But certainly for Norwich itself, one of the main contributors that can be influenced is to do with air quality from traffic."

The battery bus fleet was purchased with a £14.7m government grant, which Norfolk County Council applied for, and £23m from FirstBus, which operates the Eastern Counties network.

Piers Marlow, managing director of First Bus East of England, said: "These figures are a clear sign that zero-emission transport can play a significant role in creating cleaner, healthier places for people.

"We're incredibly proud to see the investment in electric buses and depot infrastructure already delivering meaningful benefits for Norwich."

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