Liberal Democrat calls for improved partnership with bus operators to improve services, fares, and vehicle standards.
Speaking in favour of a comprehensive transport motion (below) at the Liberal Democrats conference in Brighton, Cllr Greg Stone from Newcastle said that it "rightly emphasizes our aim of a Zero Carbon Britain and the need to safeguard air quality in our cities through ultra low emission zones. This should be the norm in big cities in coming decades. "Support for development of low emission vehicles is particularly important in my region where Nissan is a massive employer - providing of course we remain in the Single Market. "I want to speak particularly about buses. As part of Newcastle's then Liberal Democrat administration I helped introduce a hybrid electric bus fleet on the Newcastle Gateshead Quayside service a few years ago. It was expensive to do so, and it required good partnership working with bus companies. "I would argue that whilst some criticism of bus companies is deserved, good partnership with bus operators is crucial. Yes, we support devolution of bus powers to local authorities, but we sh
