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Buses and taxis get blame as capital fails emission test
BUSES and taxis are the reason Edinburgh is failing to meet new European guidelines on emissions - not private cars.
The revelation came yesterday as the city’s council leader Donald Anderson raised the intensity of the debate over the planned congestion charge. He suggested that unless residents voted "yes" in the forthcoming referendum, certain city centre streets would have to be closed off to traffic because of pollution levels.
But the council confirmed to The Scotsman that its own figures show that cutting the number of cars would have little effect on pollution levels as diesel buses and taxis are the worst offenders.
"No" campaigners said the comments undermined one of the key arguments for congestion charging.
They also argued that road tolls would actually increase pollution in certain parts of the city, particularly between the outer and inner cordons.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Anderson said the council would have no choice but to introduce "low emission zones" if Edinburgh residents failed to back the congestion charge.
"We’ll have to shut roads that don’t meet the limits. The implications will be horrendous for the people of Edinburgh," he said, referring to areas including Princes Street, George Street, Queen Street, North Bridge and Haymarket.
"If we can’t find a way of dealing with this by congestion charging, we are going to have to take cars off the streets. I don’t think that is in anyone’s interest."
Failure to comply with new mandatory limits for nitrogen dioxide and carbon particle emissions, which come into force in 2010, would mean the city council would have to pay substantial fines.
The council says that funds from congestion charging would be used to ensure that the city’s buses - the majority of which are owned by the local authority - are fitted with new, cleaner engines.
At present, the buses typically emit between six and eight times more nitrogen oxide than a private car. On Princes Street buses are responsible for between 50 and 70 per cent of the nitrogen oxide emissions.
The council’s transport leader Andrew Burns said: "In Edinburgh we are going to fail the standards introduced this year, which become mandatory in 2010. That means local authorities which don’t meet the standards will be liable.
"The only alternative is to declare a low-emission zone."
Banning private cars from the city centre at rush hour, or banning older vehicles from the centre, would be among the options the council would have to consider to come into line with the new laws.
Low-emission zones already operate in Paris, Milan, Genoa and Rome, and many local authorities are considering them in response to the new rules on air pollution.
However, councillors in Edinburgh believe they will not be necessary provided residents vote "Yes" to the congestion charge.
Mr Burns said congestion charges were just one part of the council’s proposed integrated transport policy and that the current proposals had been considered the best option.
"We sat for ten weeks and looked at all the evidence. Doing nothing is not an option."
Mr Burns said the council currently spends £3 million a year re-engineering bus and taxi engines to bring them into line with the new European standards on emissions. Using the money raised by the congestion charge would allow the council to raise this budget to £12 million a year.
But Tina Woolnough, the spokeswoman for Edinburgh Communities Against Congestion Charging, said the figures showed the green credentials of the "Yes" campaign were questionable.
"The Yes campaigners are keeping it as simple as they can, but they are oversimplifying the issues.
"The evidence the council’s own experts produced showed that air quality would get worse after congestion charging because of an increase in the numbers of taxis and buses within the inner cordon."
She said warnings of road closures were "just an empty threat" and said pedestrianisation of parts of the centre might be a better option.
"If you look at city centres across Britain pedestrianisation is the way many have chosen to go to make their city centres as pleasant as possible for people."
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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin
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