Title of Example

Example

LPG is a by-product from the refinery of oil. In the Netherlands it is used on a large scale as a fuel for cars. Transport and storage can cause accidents with a great impact. Because of safety measures there were hardly accidents and no casualties in the last few decades.

Diesel buses are causing a lot of air pollution, so from 1995 the policy of Utrecht was to use LPG for buses of the municipal Transport Company.

The experience with standard LPG-buses is good, although costs for maintenance are a bit higher. Jointed buses on diesel perform better than jointed buses on LPG. For double-jointed buses no proper LPG-engines were available.

Now 30% of their buses are LPG buses.

Liquid petrol gas busses

From 2002 the Ministry of Environmental Care made clear the use of LPG would be discouraged because of the safety risks of LPG. This caused the end of the production of LPG engines for buses. The municipal Transport Company is now buying diesel buses.

In the contract between the Region and the bus companies is an environmental restriction: every new bus complies with the latest emission standard and the average age of buses in use in 2007 will be 7 years (now 10 years) and the maximum age will be 14 years (now 19 years).

LPG buses will only be brought back into use if they are designed and marketed on a Europe-wide basis.

Last Updated

13th January 2005