The Urban Transport Group (UTG) notes that stationary bus idling is a significant concern not just for emissions but for its broader impact on the urban realm and quality of life. When buses remain stationary with their engines running, the resulting noise and vibrations propagate into the surrounding environment, primarily affecting residents and local infrastructure.
There is well documented scientific and public health evidence that long-term exposure to environmental noise and vibration can have measurable adverse health effects. These include sleep disturbance, increased stress responses, high blood pressure, and an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease.
Public health guidance published on GOV.UK and by UK environmental health bodies recognises environmental noise as a significant factor affecting health and wellbeing as does the World Health Organization (WHO), in its Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region (2018), identifies environmental noise as a major environmental health risk in Europe, second only to air pollution. The WHO highlights that chronic exposure to transport noise can trigger sustained physiological stress responses, particularly where exposure is frequent.
These effects are associated with:
- sleep
disturbance
- hypertension
- cardiovascular
disease
- cognitive
impairment
- increased
annoyance and reduced wellbeing
WHO modelling estimates that environmental noise contributes to approximately 16,000 premature deaths and 1.6 million healthy life years lost annually across Western Europe.
Chronic exposure to these environmental stressors contributes to physiological stress with hypertension and increased heart rates in both nearby residents and the bus drivers.
In the context of Rustington, these findings are particularly relevant where bus services operate at high frequency through residential streets and where multiple routes converge at a timing point. Unlike intermittent private vehicle traffic, repeated bus movements, particularly involving acceleration, braking, engine idling, and stationary waiting, can create a more continuous pattern of noise and vibration exposure in a confined area.
The County Council is required to investigate the results of noise mapping undertaken previously by DEFRA in 2017, including identified Noise Important Areas (NIAs), which are mapped along A roads. The Street and Ash Lane in Rustington are not within a Noise Important Area.
This does not mean that impacts are absent; rather, it highlights the
importance of considering bus frequency, clustering at timing points, and
road geometry when assessing the overall environmental burden on residents.
Noise pollution: mapping the health impacts of transportation noise in England
If you are further interested in this subject there is a very informative article by the BBC titled:Noise: The Invisible Killer - How our noisy world is seriously damaging our health
Published 16 March 2025
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Buses overtaking each other down The Street, Rustington |
