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Cleaner and quieter new-generation buses due to hit central Auckland streets today are expected to run on a blend of diesel and renewable animal fat.
As Prime Minister Helen Clark launched a replacement fleet of 20 inner-city Link buses on Friday afternoon, Infratil subsidiary NZ Bus was finalising supply arrangements for a blend of 5 per cent tallow to be added to their main diesel supply, possibly as early as this week.
Even without the tallow, a meat by-product, Infratil was expecting its $7 million investment in the new Link vehicles to produce up to 90 per cent fewer emissions than the 11-year-old workhorses they are replacing.
They are also more spacious and comfortable, and Infratil chief executive Lloyd Morrison said they would be an example of how much better public transport could be in providing customer satisfaction at the same time as battling congestion and air pollution.
The new chief executive of NZ Bus, Bruce Emson, told the Herald after the launch ceremony the vehicles would be made even more environmentally friendly with a biofuel blend already tested on other buses.
The exact timing had yet to be confirmed, but he said the company was aiming to run at least the Link fleet and as many other buses as possible on biofuel, subject to availability from a local supply source.
Although NZ Bus engineering director Allan Cannell said the fuel might make emissions smell "a bit like popcorn", retailers are welcoming the arrival of the country's first buses built to tough Euro 5 emission standards.
Newmarket Business Association general manager Cameron Brewer said pollution from the old fleet left stock in some shops in Nuffield St coated with a film of carbon.
"We will be pushing for the Stagecoach fleet to follow suit, particularly with all the extra buses we can expect in Newmarket with the [Auckland City Council's] $45 million central transit corridor."
Mr Cannell said that while the buses would run perfectly well on a 5 per cent tallow blend, warranty terms from Volvo did not allow a higher biofuel contribution for now.
The buses were assembled by the Ashburton coachbuilder Designline International and Helen Clark said she expected they would be running for the 2011 Rugby WorldCup.
