§ Mr. FryTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what encouragement he is giving to bus companies to purchase environmentally friendly new vehicles to help ease current congestion and pollution.
§ Mr. FreemanWe are taking a number of steps to ease congestion and pollution by encouraging both greater use of the bus and more environmentally friendly buses. I announced a package of measures on 16 December, including the provision of at least £10 million over the next two years to fund demonstration projects to promote bus use; publication of the Department's "Keeping Buses Moving"—a guide for local authorities on the provision of bus priority measures; much tighter controls of the amount of pollutants which can be emitted from new heavy diesel vehicles from 1993 onwards; and the introduction in 1992 of an instrumented smoke emissions test for in-service vehicles, together with tough roadside enforcement.