ARE AIR FILTERING BUSES THE FUTURE AND WILL THEY MAKE AN IMPACT ON AIR QUALITY ACROSS THE CITY?

After successful trials carried out in Southampton during 2018, busses which filter the very air we breathe are soon going to be a REAL thing on the streets of Greater Manchester.

With the topic of air pollution high on the agenda of things we need to tackle if we are to give any seriousness to dealing with climate change - transport company Go-Ahead who will be operating in Salford along with other areas across the region, will be launching its new air-filtering busses in summer this year.

Each of the sky blue single deckers is outfitted with a unique filtration system on its roof which makes uses of three fans which will suck in dirty air and particulates which will then be cleaned using special filters before being blown back out again.

A previous scheme in Southampton was a huge success and the company is hoping to replicated it here in Salford as well as across the whole of Greater Manchester.

Each bus can clean upwards of 3.2m cubic meters of air over a 100 day period and take as much as 65 grammes of harmful toxins and particulates out of the air at a rate of one cubic metre of air passing through its filters per second.

This means that during a single hour of operation it filters the same amount of air as 6,000 people breathing.

The more buses running the more air cleaned which is good news when you take into account the 4.2m deaths attributed to air pollution world-wide. Salford has historically had a terrible track record when it comes to Air Pollution.

Nigel Featham, managing director at Go North West, said:

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"We know that improving air quality is a huge priority in Manchester.

"Buses already make a positive contribution to air quality by taking cars off the road, and in addition to the air filtering bus, we've recently invested £1 million in a fleet of 12 low emission buses for Manchester, with further investment to follow.

"This innovation represents a further step we are taking to contribute to cleaner air."