Buses. Better for the Environment?

One of the main stated reasons for the current traffic management system in Dumbarton was to encourage people to use buses to get to the town centre instead of their cars. All the evidence we have clearly shows that this has not happened. Certainly people have been discouraged from coming in by car. We know this by the comments we hear every day from drivers, particularly the disabled (and we know it from the disastrous effect on our turnover). Unfortunately rather than take a bus they have just taken the same cars to other car friendly locations. “I come in to the town much less now, it is just not worth the hassle” is the epitaph for the current scheme.

The reason for the efforts at transport modal change is that the carbon footprint and environmental considerations. Clearly the drivers referred to above are driving further to shop so there is actually an environmental penalty to be paid.

Figures from the country’s largest bus operator Stagecoach show that each bus emits 63.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. With 86 million passenger journeys a year, this gives each passenger a carbon footprint of 499.4 grammes per kilometre. A survey by The Greater Manchester Transportation Unit shows that an average car occupancy, 1.3 people, produces 98 grammes per kilometre.

There are widely quoted figures which say that particulate pollution from buses is thirty four times that of the average car. There are very few buses passing through Dumbarton carrying 34 passengers. Most cars have more than one occupant.