LETTERS: Fuming at the buses | Auckland Opinion | Local Voices from Auckland, New Zealand

Your article is timely. The North Shore City Council has established bus terminals by stealth, the latest being the provision of more buses in Birkenhead Ave.
Drivers are instructed to leave the engines running when parked up in these terminals to decrease engine wear. There are plenty of studies, particularly in the US and Europe, which show that diesel particulate matter, as small as 100 nanometers, can easily penetrate deep into the lungs. Exposure can lead to cardiovascular disease, cardiopulmonary disease and lung cancer.
I invite your readers to google "diesel + particulate + cancer". The science is irrefutable. New Zealand diesel is particularly dirty.
A 2001 German study showed that exposure was the cause of at least 14,400 deaths. (Report # 2352 Umweltbundesamt Berlin).
This council blithely ignores the science and exposes people to lethal exposures because buses have political endorsement. 
The solution is not to allow congregation of buses near areas of high human concentration, to turn off the engine immediately upon stopping for any other reason than picking up passengers, and to institute a regime (common in other countries) of diesel scrubbers and filters as part of the exhaust system of these machines.
Bill Plunkett,
Dip OSH

Anyone who has worked with diesels knows that idling kills the engine. The cylinder bores glaze over. A diesel should be run hard and hot to run clean. Surely the ticket machines can run on a separate power supply?
Chris

I couldn't agree more. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen bus drivers leave their buses, lock the doors and walk away, leaving the engine running. This takes place on a regular basis around the Britomart bus terminal and at places like the Coyle Park, Pt Chev bus terminal.
I've also observed many buses where the driver is sitting up the back of the bus with the doors locked and the engine running for extended periods while awaiting their departure time. The problem at the Britomart is acute as passengers must wait for their buses right next to lines of buses just sitting with engines running.
With the new New Lynn transport centre we are bound to be up against the same problem. In fact local residents are already complaining about having buses parked up side streets.
When tackled on this problem some of the drivers' excuses I was told were (amongst others): "the company doesn't allow us to turn off our engines" or "the bus won't start again if I turn off the engine"(unfortunately that's true in at least one case I came across, although the novice driver was able to get assistance from another driver). What amazes me is that NZ Bus obviously doesn't care how much fuel is being wasted.
I guess for them money grows on trees. Or used to before it became oil.
H Wiseman-Dare
New Lynn

This is an Auckland wide problem and makes Auckland feel like a third world city.
Because we have a fleet of dirty diesel belching buses, this problem will continue. The diesel trains are just as bad. The air inside the Britomart is often blue with diesel fumes from trains sitting with engines idling. The air inside the trains is often thick with fumes which seem to pour in through the air vents.
Councillors like Hay and others voted against Mayor Robbie's rapid rail idea years ago, which has left us with the dirty, polluted city we have today.
J Martin
Henderson