Egis has been awarded the contract to help deliver the largest Clean Air Zone in the UK in Greater Manchester, to support its aim to drive the growth of a healthy and sustainable city-region.
The company has signed what it describes as a ‘ground-breaking’ contract to set up and operate an end-to-end service for Greater Manchester’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ)* program for the next five years. The Egis led team will comprise our key supply chain partners Yunex Traffic (the new name for Siemens Mobility’s Intelligent Traffic Systems business) and Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions Limited.
As reported by Highways News this week, Greater Manchester’s Clean Air Zone is anticipated to launch on 30 May 2022 and will operate seven days a week, 24 hours a day. It will be enforced by a network of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, manufactured and supplied by Yunex Traffic from within the UK. Vehicles liable to pay the charge will pay using the government’s online portal with discounts and exemptions available for some vehicle types.
The aim of the Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone is to secure compliance with nitrogen dioxide (NO2) legal limits on local roads in the shortest possible time, and by 2024 at the latest, by:
• Reducing the use of non-compliant high emitting vehicles.
• Changing the behaviour of users of the transport network.
• Encouraging those that have to travel by road to upgrade to cleaner vehicles.
As part of this project, Egis will be responsible for the successful installation and delivery of the following key aspects of the service, including the installation and maintenance of close to 900 ANPR cameras, a public-facing CAZ office to handle payments, discounts, exemptions and financial reconciliation along with any Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) that are issued to non-payers of the charge.
Renaud Beziade, Chief Executive Officer, Egis Project Structuring, Operation and New Services, said: “We are extremely pleased to have been awarded this contract as it is at the heart of our strategy to become a leading name in smart and sustainable infrastructure that can contribute to tackling climate change and ultimately improving people’s living environments. In addition, this contract is aligned to our overall vision for the digitalisation and environmental transition of city services.”
Wilke Reints, Managing Director, Intelligent Traffic Systems, Siemens Mobility Limited, also said: “We are delighted to be supplying our class leading ANPR cameras and enforcement technology, working in partnership with TfGM, Egis and Imperial to develop this clean air solution across the ten local authority areas. The zone will significantly help to improve air quality, which will have an immediate and lasting impact on the almost three million people that live, work and study in Greater Manchester, improving their long-term health and wellbeing.”
Adding to that, Ashley Bijster, Managing Director, Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions Ltd: “We are so proud to be part of this project, and are excited to have the opportunity to help to improve the air quality in Greater Manchester. This contract award, together with the work we have already undertaken in Birmingham, underlines our commitment to delivering clean air through the innovative utilisation of existing parking and enforcement technology solutions.”
Greater Manchester lead for Clean Air, Councillor Andrew Western, said: “We, as a city region, are committed to tackling air pollution, which is the biggest environmental public health issue facing the city-region and contributes to around 1,200 deaths in Greater Manchester alone each year.
“That’s why we have developed a Clean Air Plan that not only helps us meet government requirements on nitrogen dioxide air pollution, but also delivers major health benefits for our residents; and the funding support for those businesses, individuals and organisations who need to upgrade their vehicle to become compliant. We are looking forward to working with Egis to help us deliver the plan, improve the quality of our air and ensure Greater Manchester continues to be a healthy, sustainable and happy place to grow up, get on and grow old.”
Plans are for the project implementation phase will begin straight away with an implementation period through to the end of January 2022. An extensive trial and testing period will run over four months between February and May 2022 and the go love date for the CAZ is expected to be end of May 2022.
By securing this Clean Air Zone project in one of the UK’s premier city regions, Egis is strengthening its position in the automated payment and enforcement market, it says. Building on this success and with work already underway in locations from Amsterdam to Paris the business aims to grow its service offering in this area across more than 50 cities in Europe and numerous other countries across the Globe.
Greater Manchester has been instructed by government to introduce a Category C class Clean Air Zone, which includes non-compliant buses and coaches, Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs), Light Goods Vehicles (LGVs) or vans, minibuses, taxis and private hire vehicles.
