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Auckland bus operator Infratil will replace its central-city Link fleet with 20 new-technology vehicles which it says will look and smell far fresher than their predecessors.
Executives said yesterday they had beaten visiting former United States Vice-President and harbinger of global warming Al Gore to the environmental draw.
They have persuaded their board to part with between $6 million and $8 million for the new air-conditioned Volvo buses, to be painted green before hitting central Auckland streets in May, taking over the 10-year-old Link loop around Ponsonby Rd, the CBD, Karangahape Rd, Newmarket and Parnell.
Ashburton-based Designline will build vehicle bodies over chassis and engines to be imported from Sweden and developed to the latest Euro 5 emission standards, which Infratil public transport commercial director Ian Turner says will produce 70 to 90 per cent less pollution than the existing 1996 fleet of 18 Link buses.
That will include 94 per cent fewer particulates, which is the main pollutant from diesel engines, and a 56 per cent reduction in nitrogen oxides.
Infratil public transport managing director Bill Rae said the fleet would be as modern as any buses on European roads, and as clean as hybrid electric-diesel vehicles, which remained vulnerable to breakdowns.
The green backgrounds of the new buses will have yellow images of the Auckland skyline and street-life superimposed.
He said the new buses would be more comfortable, and have extra standing space and wider doors - "and we are helping to clean Auckland's air."
Mr Turner said the Link service had been a great success, carrying 2.5 million passengers a year, despite falling foul of an Advertising Standards Complaints Board ruling six months ago that a relatively small number of delays meant a claim it ran every 10 minutes was misleading.
He said Infratil had set up a team to review the service. It concluded that despite growing traffic congestion it was worth building on a successful formula with strong support from Auckland City Council staff in developing bus-priority measures.
Marketing and customer services manager Steve Wade said the only route alterations would be some minor changes to bus-stop spacing.
