Saw this on the MAG FB page, thought it was an interesting read and backs up what I've mentioned to TFL before about the way a motorcycle moves through LOndon compared to a car so therefore can't be put into the same category.
More incompetence and laziness from TfL and Sadiq Khan
News from the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG)
MAG brands industry standard emissions calculator unfit for purpose.
This version: 2019-04-10
Following repeated claims from Transport for London (TfL) that
“individually, motorcycles can be highly polluting”, MAG has demanded
that TfL produce evidence to back this claim. TfL stalled for many
months before finally claiming that they take information from the
National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory.
MAG investigated this “evidence” and discovered that the information
from NAEI is, in fact, a modelling calculation; and we can now reveal
that this model actually backs our position that pre-Euro 3 motorcycles
are not necessarily “highly polluting” and that, by the admission of the
software modellers, the figures over-estimate real-world emissions from
motorcycles.
TfL has chosen a NOx emissions limit of 0.15g/km for motorcycles, based
on the figure for this single pollutant in the Euro 3 motorcycle
standard. TfL claim that the evidence for pre-Euro 3 motorcycles being
highly polluting is provided by the COPERT 5 data for average motorcycle
emissions at an average speed of 30km/h.
The data from COPERT 5 shows that average emissions from pre-Euro 1
<50cc mopeds; pre-Euro 1, Euro 1 and Euro 2 two-strokes; Euro 2
four-strokes 250 – 750cc; pre-Euro 1, Euro 1 and Euro 2 four strokes
>750cc, all average less than 0.15g/km. At the same time, the cleanest
ULEZ-exempt Euro 6c diesel cars emit 0.21g/km. MAG has also had
confirmation from Emisia - the company behind the COPERT modelling
software - that their models do not allow for the emissions advantage
possessed by motorcycles in terms of filtering through congested traffic.
Studies carried out by the Federation of European Motorcyclists
Associations (FEMA) demonstrated that, across 17 major European cities,
motorcycles on average reduce journey times by 30% compared with cars.
The COPERT modelling can therefore be shown to over-estimate the already
low emissions figures for motorcycles by this same percentage.
MAG’s Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement, Colin Brown, stated
“This research has led us to a conclusion that has far-reaching
implications beyond Sadiq Khan’s London: indeed beyond the UK, to the
whole of Europe. Any air quality modelling that relies on the COPERT
software is misrepresenting the part that motorcycles play in air
quality. No modelling will ever reveal the benefit that modal shift to
motorcycles and scooters can play in improving the quality of the air
that we all breathe. An opportunity for all is being hidden through the
use of faulty assumptions that motorcycles are the same as cars and
should be treated in exactly the same way. This is flawed modelling
that leads to poor decision-making.
MAG is more than happy to answer any questions about motorcycle
emissions, and to work with any authority that genuinely wants to reduce
air pollution to correct the modelling and come to workable policies
that promote the use of motorcycles and scooters. As we have maintained
all along: motorcycles are the solution not the problem.”
Contact MAG at 01926 844 064 or central-office@mag-uk.org