Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Urban Health Collaborative, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA.
J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2023 May;33(3):332-338. doi: 10.1038/s41370-022-00454-5. Epub 2022 Jul 20.
Motor vehicles, including public transit buses, are a major source of air pollution in New York City (NYC) and worldwide. To address this problem, governments and transit agencies have implemented policies to introduce cleaner vehicles into transit fleets. Beginning in 2000, the Metropolitan Transit Agency began deploying compressed natural gas, hybrid electric, and low-sulfur diesel buses to reduce urban air pollution.
We hypothesized that bus fleet changes incorporating cleaner vehicles would have detectable effects on air pollution concentrations between 2009 and 2014, as measured by the New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS).
Depot- and route-specific information allowed identification of areas with larger or smaller changes in the proportion of distance traveled by clean buses. Data were assembled for 9670 300 m × 300 m grid cell areas with annual concentration estimates for nitrogen oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO), and black carbon (BC) from NYCCAS. Spatial error models adjusted for truck route presence and total traffic volume.
While concentrations of all three pollutants declined between 2009 and 2014 even in the 39.7% of cells without bus service, the decline in concentrations of NO and NO was greater in areas with more bus service and with higher proportional shifts toward clean buses. Conversely, the decline in BC concentration was slower in areas with more bus service and higher proportional clean bus shifts.
These results provide evidence that the NYC clean bus program impacted concentrations of air pollution, particularly in reductions of NO. Further work can investigate the potential impact of these changes on health outcomes in NYC residents.
Urban air pollution from diesel-burning buses is an important health exposure. The New York Metropolitan Transit Agency has worked to deploy cleaner buses into their fleet, but the impact of this policy has not been evaluated. Successful reductions in air pollution are critical for public health.
机动车，包括公共交通巴士，是纽约市（NYC）和全球空气污染的主要来源。为了解决这个问题，政府和交通机构已经实施了政策，将更清洁的车辆引入运输车队。从 2000 年开始，大都会运输署开始部署压缩天然气、混合动力电动汽车和低硫柴油巴士，以减少城市空气污染。
我们假设，随着更清洁车辆的加入，巴士车队的变化将在 2009 年至 2014 年间对空气污染浓度产生可检测的影响，这可以通过纽约市社区空气调查（NYCCAS）来衡量。
通过特定于车厂和路线的信息，可以确定清洁巴士行驶里程比例变化较大或较小的区域。我们收集了 9670 个 300m×300m 网格单元区域的数据，这些数据来自 NYCCAS 的年度氮氧化物（NO）、二氧化氮（NO）和黑碳（BC）浓度估计值。空间误差模型考虑了卡车路线的存在和总交通量。
尽管在没有巴士服务的 39.7%的单元中，所有三种污染物的浓度在 2009 年至 2014 年间都有所下降，但在巴士服务更多、更清洁巴士比例变化更大的区域，NO 和 NO 的浓度下降幅度更大。相反，在巴士服务更多、更清洁巴士比例变化更大的区域，BC 浓度的下降速度较慢。
这些结果提供了证据，表明纽约市的清洁巴士计划影响了空气污染浓度，特别是在减少 NO 方面。进一步的研究可以调查这些变化对纽约市居民健康结果的潜在影响。
来自燃烧柴油的巴士的城市空气污染是一个重要的健康暴露因素。纽约大都会运输署已努力将更清洁的巴士投入使用，但这项政策的影响尚未得到评估。成功减少空气污染对公共健康至关重要。
