Warrington's Own Buses
Warrington's Own Buses became the first bus company in the world to install air cleaning devices across its entire operational bus fleet to protect its drivers from the risk of airborne transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Air pollution is the largest, single, environmental health problem that we face today. Now we have the added threat of coronavirus to overcome. How will you keep your customers and colleagues safe?
Getting back to business safely
Coronavirus has had a devastating effect on the transport industry. Revenues have plummeted and customer confidence is at an all-time low.
At a time when dramatically increasing occupancy and utilisation is the only way to maintain service levels, how can we make public transport COVID-safe and persuade the public to get back on board?
Airborne coronavirus – the invisible threat
Surface contamination is not the primary source of infection for coronavirus. It is the airborne pathogen that presents the real danger.
Evidence shows that coronavirus particles can remain live and suspended in the air for up to three hours, even after the source of contamination has departed. Enclosed spaces such as buses, trains and trams are at high risk for airborne transmission.
Masks are effective at containing larger droplets, but studies have shown they can allow as much as 70% of infected aerosols to pass.
Weather and customer comfort make opening windows a challenge and vehicle ventilation and air conditioning systems can be more dangerous by re-distributing contaminated air throughout the vehicle.
Air pollution
And what about the dangers of air pollution?
Harmful particulates such as PM2.5 and PM10, and toxic gases such as nitrogen dioxide and ozone, are often found in areas with high use of public transport. Known to cause heart, lung and other diseases research has also shown that increased exposure to air pollution can result in more severe COVID-19 symptoms.
Solutions
Onboard driver protection
The AirBubbl in-vehicle air cleaner uses our unique combination of particle and nano-particle filtration, along with our patented airflow technology, to protect drivers from airborne coronavirus and dangerous pollutants such as PM10 and PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide and ozone. It removes more than 95% of coronavirus particles, pollutants, and noxious gases and floods the driver area with over 30,000 litres of clean air an hour, reducing the airborne particle concentration and risk of infection in minutes. A retrofit solution that is easily installed above the driver’s head, it requires no changes to the vehicle’s ventilation system or interior configuration. AirBubbl is installed in buses, private hire and patient transport vehicles across the globe.
Onboard passenger protection
AiroSafe has been specifically designed to remove airborne viruses and contaminated particles from the passenger cabins of public transportation including buses, coaches and trains. It provides each passenger with a curtain of clean air by extracting air from all sides of the passenger seat and filtering more than 95% of airborne coronavirus particles, pollutants, and noxious gases from the air stream. Using patented air flow technology, it then rapidly delivers the clean air directly back to the passenger. With a single person exhaling eight liters of air per minute and the AiroSafe filtering an impressive 600 liters of air in the same time, it ensures that every passenger seat is flooded with clean, safe air. AirLabs is working with manufacturers and operators across the globe and was selected to present AiroSafe at UITP Asia Pacific.
Infrastructure - stations and platforms
The station, platform and terminus environment can be harsh and unforgiving. High footfall and high levels of air pollution can cause major headaches for transport operators looking to improve air quality for customers and colleagues. AirLab’s air filtration solutions for semi-enclosed spaces are designed to deal with high levels of airborne particulate matter in addition to harmful gas pollutants. Designed to create clean air zones where they are needed most they come with low cost of implementation and maintenance and can be tailored to meet specific application needs. Coupled with AirLabs Air Quality Monitoring platform the whole system can be managed and monitored to ensure maximum efficiency and the data shared with colleagues and customers to improve satisfaction and confidence.
