WITH a General Election just gone and with the environment becoming an ever-increasing influence at the polling booth, there's no doubt that talk of Oxford's air quality is a hot topic.

In this age of 'alternative facts' however, information and misinformation seem to come in almost equal measure.

After recent data from monitoring stations in Oxford City showed an increase in levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx), politicians rightly raised this as an issue that needed urgent attention.

Whilst talking with your spouse after a disagreement may help to 'clear the air' in a metaphorical sense, sadly when politicians do it very little is usually achieved.

Central government has been criticised twice by the High Court over its failure to resolve the issue.

The first time, its plans simply didn't reflect the magnitude or urgency of the problem.

After being sent back to the drawing board, Downing St then stated that it would delay the publication of the revised draft until after the general election.

You couldn't make it up.

Locally however, we have been working with the county council to make the ambitious Oxfordshire Transport Strategy a deliverable proposition.

Whilst most public debate has centred on cars, in the public transport world we've been working with local and continental partners to solve the problem ourselves.

Let's give credit where it's due – on the January 1, 2014, Oxford’s bus operators and the city council worked together to create a Low Emission Zone (LEZ).

This means, for buses at least, that all scheduled services operating once an hour or more through the city must have vehicles that meet the Euro 5 standard for emissions of NOx – as a minimum – challenge accepted.

It wasn't an issue however, as when this date came around our fleet was already there.

And we've continued to raise the bar since then, with two thirds of our vehicles now hybrid, and one third Euro 6 compliant – the highest standard currently available.

Real-world testing has shown Euro 6 buses to emit 95 per cent less NOx than Euro 5.

To put that in perspective, the equivalent top of the range clean diesel passenger car emits 10 times as much NOx per passenger as our buses do.

The cynical may claim this figure is based on the assumption of high passenger numbers on each bus; on the contrary, a report released by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership last year showed that our Euro 6 buses emit less NOx – for the entire bus – than many of the latest diesel cars.

The problem of NOx is shared by all of us, and it is very real indeed.

It's responsible for 50,000 early deaths per year, and this sobering statistic will only become worse if we don't act now.

You can point the finger wherever you like but the UK needs to see a spectacular improvement in its air quality over the next 3-5 years.

There's little doubt that future passenger transport will be propelled by either hydrogen power, electric motors, or both.

But for the transport industry, viable products simply aren't available on the market. Did someone say electric cars? They're fantastic.

But they have the same road footprint as a conventional car, and in a city like Oxford where congestion, pollution and a battle for road space combine to form a toxic brew of issues, we simply must look towards smarter solutions.

A single bus can take as many as 75 cars off the road – surely that’s our silver bullet?

In the absence of pigs flying above Oxford’s dreaming spires however, I accept that peoples’ habits aren’t easily changed.

That’s why we’re actively contributing to road and housing development consultations, building smarter ticketing and journey planning solutions, and networking with other organisations to share our knowledge.

For example, one of our directors sits on the board of Low Carbon Hub, whose construction of a major new hydro scheme at Sandford lock has reached an important milestone in the last week.

We've put our money where our mouth is, too.

In the last 2 years alone, we've spent £11m on cleaner vehicles.

We've also covered the roof of our depot in solar panels and lit it inside with LED bulbs.

All our buses have a sophisticated telematics system that monitors driving standards to improve fuel efficiency.

We’ll be taking delivery of another 10 Euro 6 hybrids next month.

In short, environmental concerns are nothing new to us and we’ve been playing our part for a long time.

So let's get to work solving these problems. Let's separate facts from alternative facts, read critically, and vote with our feet. Chronic congestion won’t just hurt our bodies – it threatens to cripple the economy of this great city.

Let’s have a frank discussion based on evidence. Let's clear the air.