Emily Thornberry is the Mayor of London's latest convert to his new green buses. After having a ride on one of the Mayor's test fleet this week, Emily said: "these new green buses are fantastic and I'm going to campaign to bring them to Islington. I wanted to drive this one back to Islington immediately but I was told they're not ready yet!"
The new green buses are cleaner and quieter than regular buses. They run largely on an automatically-recharging battery which is topped-up by small car-sized engine which kicks in when necessary. This cuts poisonous nitrogen oxide by almost 90% and uses 40% less fuel, as well as cutting noise dramatically.
Emily went on one of the six new buses being trialled in central London with a group of local councillors and residents from Islington. When asked if they thought these buses should come to Islington first, the verdict was unanimously "yes", and so Emily has launched a ‘Green Buses for Islington' campaign to ask Ken Livingstone to put the first round of green buses on routes in Islington.
Claudia Webbe, who lives near City Road where the level of poisonous gas nitrogen dioxide is up to 50% above EU air pollution limits, said:
"Some of Islington's roads are the noisiest and most polluted in central London - so I was excited to see part of the solution. I'll be helping Emily to get local residents on a petition to ask Ken Livingstone to send these buses our way first"
Cara Downey, who lives near Kings Cross, said:
"These buses are the future - we need them in Islington to cut emissions and help tackle climate change. I'm excited that London's leading the way on this"
Ian McLaughlin, who lives just off the Holloway Road, said:
"Most of all I was amazed by how quiet the buses were - this would really improve people's quality of life especially where single-deckers run along residential streets in Islington"
And James Murray, who lives in Barnsbury where he is a Labour Councillor, added:
"I'll be helping the campaign to bring these buses to Islington - as well as being greener, I know a lot of residents on Hemingford Road for example who would get a better night's sleep if these quieter buses were put on the local route that goes past their front door"
Emily will be collecting signatures of local residents over the next few months to give to Ken Livingstone to make sure that once the trials of these buses are complete, the next routes to get green hybrid buses will be in Islington.
A Transport for London bus engineer, who accompanied Emily on the trip, described how London is leading the way with the most advanced and environmentally-friendly bus network in the world. He explained how hybrid buses in America had bigger engines than even London's regular buses, so the move to hybrid puts our city at the very forefront of green buses.
