The UK Government has awarded £40m funding to 20 local authorities as a step to introduce more low-emission buses on roads.

The funding will be provided from the Clean Bus Technology Fund, which was launched last year.

Speaking at the UK Bus Summit, Transport Minister Nusrat Ghani said: “Buses and coaches are hugely important to those who rely on them and to the communities in which these people live and work.

“Road transport is going to change dramatically over the next couple of decades, and we have to make sure that the bus industry is ready to benefit from those changes.

“Road transport is going to change dramatically over the next couple of decades, and we have to make sure that the bus industry is ready to benefit from those changes.”

“We have to move away from nose-to-tail car traffic at peak times, endless engine idling, stop-start travel and rising pollution and carbon emissions. Rather than contributing to the problem, buses and coaches very much form part of the solution.”

The funding will enable the councils to retrofit older buses with new technology to reduce tailpipe emissions of nitrogen dioxide, thereby contributing to air quality improvement in UK cities.

UK Environment Minister Therese Coffey said: “I am delighted to see so many high-quality applications to the Clean Bus Technology Fund and, as a result, the government has decided to bring forward funding, meaning that we will award nearly £40 million to retrofit more than 2,700 buses.”

In 2016, UK invested £30m through the Low Emission Bus Scheme that was used to introduce more than 300 new low-emission buses on roads.

An additional £11m was allocated last year to launch 150 such buses.