The UK’s first air-filtering bus has been unveiled in Southampton in a move to tackle dangerous levels of urban air pollution.
Operated by public transport company Go-Ahead, the vehicle is fitted with a filtration system designed to clear 99.5 per cent of toxic particles from air. Scientists say the filter, found on the roof of the Bluestar bus, traps the ultrafine particles as the bus moves, expelling almost pure air out behind it.
Go-Ahead chief executive David Brown said: “We want this pilot to show that buses should be looked at as not just the solution to congestion in cities, but also as a solution to the air quality problem. As the bus removes the ultrafine particles from the air as it travels along the route, it is helping solve the air quality problems of the city. Imagine the change we could make to air quality if all buses had this technology.”
The UK has launched the first air filtering bus in Southampton, cleaning up #airpollution as it drives around the city. Important concrete steps to tackle the #airquality#healthcrisishttps://t.co/5RLKATA1VG
— Clean Air Campaign (@cleanairdayuk) September 27, 2018
The prototype was manufactured by Pall Aerospace, a leading filtration company.
Southampton was chosen for the pilot after the World Health Organisation revealed earlier this year that the city is at its absolute limit of air pollution. In 2015, the city was warned – alongside Derby, Birmingham, Nottingham and Leeds – that it must deliver plans to deal with exceptionally high air toxins. Experts estimate that air pollution causes up to 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK. Last month a group of 17 city leaders called for the government to take action on the country’s “growing air pollution public health crisis”.