New air-cleaning bus driving down pollution

A new bus operated by one of the United Kingdom's largest public transportation companies has hit the streets in Southampton with the goal of driving down air pollution. The Go-Ahead Group says its Bluestar7 bus is the first in the UK to be fitted with a roof-mounted air filtration system that will suck up dirty air as it moves around the city before cleaning it and sending it back out. If the bus unveiled on Thursday is a success in Southampton, the company will roll the idea out nationwide.

David Brown, Go-Ahead Group's chief executive, told the Guardian newspaper the company wants to extend the technology to its entire fleet of more than 5,000 buses.

"We are going a step further in the potential for our buses to actively clean the environment," he said. "It's a huge development in our environmental leadership and we are also proud to be pioneering the prototype in the UK."