Reading Buses Scandal

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Council News

Reading Buses Scandal!, Reading's 'green buses' are not green after all ....

Have you got a problem with a service in our Ward? (broken or blocked drains etc.) Please tell us and your ward Councillors will arrange to have it fixed! ...

Local News

Peppard Ward Conservative Casts Doubt on ContactPoint.

Reading's 'green buses' are not green after all!

Council Tax Rises by 3.99% due to a Lib/Lab pact!

Parent input is required for selecting schools

Buddy Scheme introduced

Councillors Oppose Bus Closure in Emmer Green

Cabinet Decision Called-In by CCEA Scrutiny panel

Labour’s Lead Councillor for Children’s Services Resigns!

Rob Wilson's Website

Alok Sharma's Website

Councillor Surgeries
Our next Councillor Surgery will be held at the Readibus in Budgen's Car Park, Peppard Road Emmer Green on
17 July 2010 between 10.30am and 12 noon.

Conservatives question ‘eco-friendly’ bus fuel claims

Cllr Richard Willis, Conservative Lead Spokesman for Transport	See also Reading Evening Post Reading Chronicle Reading Chronicle (2) Richard Willis's Blog
“Serious questions now will be asked about how such misleading and inaccurate statements were made by leading Labour Councillors and what this does to Reading’s environmental credentials....”

Reading, 15 October 2009: Reading Conservatives today expressed their dismay at the news that Reading Buses is to convert their entire fleet of "eco-friendly" bio-ethanol buses to diesel.

In 2008 Reading Borough Council press-released the news of the new buses with a statement from the Labour Environment Lead Councillor at that time, Steve Waite, as follows “This scheme is using only bi-products of sugar beet from UK sources and is a welcome addition to the range of measures to help us mitigate climate change”.

The news today is that this is completely untrue. Conservatives have learned that all of Reading Buses' bio-ethanol has been imported from Sweden and none of it has been sourced in the UK. Also, the economics of running the bio-ethanol buses has turned out to be far less efficient than originally anticipated. They are about 40% less efficient than a diesel bus and need much more time off the road for maintenance. The decision has therefore been taken to re-engine the entire fleet of bio-ethanol buses and convert them to run on diesel fuel.

Ironically the wood pulp based Swedish fuel was actually more eco-friendly than fuel based on sugar beet waste but that did not account for the costs (financial and environmental) of importation from abroad.

Conservative Transport Spokesman, Councillor Richard Willis, said "At the time these buses were introduced Conservatives challenged Labour Councillors on the economics of the bio-ethanol engines and were assured that this had been carefully investigated and the economics stacked up. Serious questions now will be asked about how such misleading and inaccurate statements were made by leading Labour Councillors and what this does to Reading’s environmental credentials."