As part of the terms of the West Midlands Enhanced Partnership that all operators have agreed to adhere to, from 1st May 2023 all vehicles operating public bus services within the Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) area must meet minimum Euro6 emissions standards.
(Worth adding here that from May 2025 all new vehicles purchased by operators must be “non-diesel”, and from May 2030, all vehicles operating bus services will be “non-diesel”)
While operators have had plenty of notice to remove and replace non-Euro6 vehicles from their fleet ahead of the impending deadline, circumstances for at least two operators have required them to seek a ‘temporary exemption’ from TfWM to allow them to continue to operate a number of vehicles that would otherwise be ‘non-compliant’.
Diamond Bus had agreed a deal to purchase a number of brand new vehicles, however I understand that fell through due to a disagreement over delivery schedules. Instead Diamond will be ‘retrofitting’ some older vehicles in order to bring them up to Euro6 standards, the exemption will allow time for this work to be completed, though I believe there is a desire to either purchase new vehicles or transfer them from other operating areas.
National Express West Midlands are having issues with installation of infrastructure which will allow the Coventry garage to be ‘fully-electric’. At present there a number of brand-new electric buses which have been delivered and in storage, awaiting transfer to Coventry, which will release more vehicles that can be transferred into the West Midlands fleet. NX have been granted an exemption by TfWM to continue to use a number of non-compliant vehicles until January 2024 though the expectation is that these will be withdrawn well before then.
Most other operators with smaller fleets will already have Euro6 vehicles, especially those operating TfWM contracted services, as that has been a requirement for some time already.
Featured image (c) Tony Hunter, WM Buses In Photos, used as always with permission
