THE days when buses regularly belched clouds of thick diesel are on the way out.

The company that owns Dorset’s biggest bus operator has cut carbon emissions by nearly 70 per cent in a decade.

The Go-Ahead Group, parent company of Morebus, has received official recognition for cutting its carbon production, with 30 per cent taken off its emissions in the past three years alone.

Andrew Wickham, managing director of Poole-based Moreubs, said: “This is recognition of our drive to keep Morebus at the forefront emission reduction in our community, and represents a big step forward for the transport industry as a whole.

“We have demonstrated our commitment to reducing emissions with a number of initiatives – including introducing a new fleet of buses with greener engines.

“This year, we were recognised with a RouteOne Environment Award in a nod to our efforts to reduce congestion and improve air quality across the south.

“However, this is just the beginning. At a group level, Go-Ahead are targeting a further 20 per cent reduction by 2021 and we are confident of reaching that ambitious target.”

Go-Ahead owns a host of bus operators across the country as well as two rail franchises. Its rail operations already held the ISO 50001 – a standard of excellence for energy management – but it is the first group to secure it for all its bus and rail operations in the UK.

Judith Turner, environment and energy technical manager at Lloyd’s Register, the company that runs the accreditation process, said: “Go-Ahead’s certification demonstrates their commitment to energy efficiency and continual improvement.

“Their recently certified energy management system can help them achieve greater carbon and energy reductions, and will take them one step closer to achieving their ambition of positioning public transport as part of the solution to climate change.”

Last year, Morebus unveiled a fleet of 41 new Alexander Dennis buses for its M1 and M2 routes, with a Euro 6 engine that was said to be cleaner than the latest generation of diesel cars.

Across the county, Go-Ahead has one of the largest electric fleets. In September, Morebus’ sister company Bluestar launched the UK’s first air-filtering bus, which makes the air around it cleaner as it travels. It cleans the air in Southampton 1.7 times a year to a height of 10 metres.