Give us electric or hybrid buses in Vauxhall, Brixton and Streatham

Poor air quality is the second biggest killer after smoking in Lambeth. We have measured air quality in side streets around Brixton and found it running at 90% of the levels on Brixton High Road. This is of huge concern as Brixton has some of the worst recorded NO2 emissions in London.

For a while this went unrecorded as Lambeth Council opted out of the London Air Quality Network. However, we campaigned to get the air monitors back online, and we are now running air monitoring projects, as part of the "Mapping for Change" initiative around schools in Vauxhall and Streatham.

There are several causes of air pollution including domestic and commercial heating systems, construction, industry, cars, buses and taxis. Lambeth Council also incinerates its waste having an impact on air quality outside the borough.

Using data from TfL published on Green Assembly member Jenny Jones’ “how polluted is my road?” web site, we estimate that between a fifth and a third of pollution in Lambeth comes from buses, so we want TfL to clean up their fleet. This is one part of concerted action that both Lambeth Council and Transport for London need to take to clean up our air.

One option is retrofitting buses to lessen the pollution they give out. But this won't get buses to as high a standard as hybrid or electric options - and with Lambeth's very poor air quality, the issue needs to be taken seriously. If you want TfL to get a move on and give us hybrid or even electric buses, please sign the petition!