Over the past couple of decades, the world has become more aware of the dangers of environment pollution and as a result started to find some ways to reduce the level of pollutants being released into the environment on a daily basis. The life expectancy of all living beings, especially the human beings, is mainly dependent on the quality of air we breathe, so air pollution can be considered as the most harmful one which directly affect our daily life.
According to a new research, air pollution worldwide cuts life expectancy by 1.8 years for an average person and is also responsible for some 8.8 million early deaths a year globally, making it one of the leading causes of death in the world. While air pollution is triggered by a variety of reasons, the main villain is emissions from vehicles. We are living in a world where vehicles reign supreme and 96 percent of energy for transport comes from fossil fuels, hence we are, no doubt, meeting our mobility needs at the expense of our life expectancy.
Qatar is one among the countries with far-sighted leaders, which have truly understood the dangers of the absence of a sustainable transport and have adopted ways and means to address the problem with urgency. In the run up to presenting a unique FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, the country is also trying hard to ensure that when mega events happen, they don’t hurt the environment.
Some 130 electric buses, the last batch of the 741 units Qatar ordered for the upcoming World Cup have been received at the Hamad Port recently. Most of the transport needs of fans, players and others during the football festival will be met by sustainable modes such as e-buses and metro as Qatar will host the first carbon-neutral World Cup.
But these buses are not exclusively meant for the event, but these will be embedded in the country’s public transit system, thus creating a lasting legacy of clean energy mass transit. The move is expected to position Qatar among the first countries in the world to have an integrated system of sustainable transport. The full delivery of electric bus order is setting the stage for transforming 25 percent of the bus fleet of FIFA World Cup to electric.
This year, e-buses will be used in Metrolink services and on public transport routes that are mainly operating in cities such as Doha, Lusail and Al Khor. The country under Mowasalat has started electrifying public transit routes as Route 76 is already in full operation and all alternative transportation for the Gold Line and Red Line of Doha Metro uses electric buses.
