Reader letter: Diesel fumes are a serious health hazard, First Bus should go electric

A reader has written in to say they think electric buses are the way to go.

It's good for First buses to buy new buses if they get money from the government ("First pledges 18 million for new buses if city's bid for government transport cash is successful", January 15).

The old buses in Castle Meadow spewing toxic diesel fumes are a serious health hazard.

And we will need many more buses to combat climate change.

Carbon dioxide emissions from transport are still rising because car ownership is increasing, even though emissions are falling in other areas such as energy generation.

With only a decade left to take action to prevent runaway climate change, we need to replace as many cars as possible with buses, emulating progressive cities like Zurich and Copenhagen, where most people don't bother to use cars as public transport is so good.

But we need all new buses to have zero carbon emissions, therefore they need to be electric, so it is a shame that First buses in Norwich intends to buy diesel buses instead.

Although electric buses are more expensive to buy, they cost less to run so costs are equal over the total life-span of the bus.

Let us hope that First can be persuaded to be more environmentally conscious and change its policy.