AS we reveal on Page 5 today, Worcester's park-and-ride system is likely to run at a loss of £261,000 this year.

In the first six month's of operation, 40,944 tickets have been sold to people who are prepared to leave their cars at the Perdiswell site and catch a bus into the city.

Opponents of park-and-ride might point to those figures and chuckle "we told you so". But that would be to miss the point.

The amount of traffic chugging into the city centre must be reduced. Let's not forget, the streets in our historic city weren't designed to cope with 21st Century levels of traffic.

The picture of a city with its vital arteries blocked by vehicles is reinforced today by former Mayor Derek Prodger's plea for a park-and-ride system to be developed on the south west of Worcester.

Traffic often stretches for a mile along Bromwich Road, he tells us, with around 13,000 vehicles using it each day.

We suspect that anyone stuck in the rush hour crawl into the city would - at least in principle - support any way of reducing congestion.

But the key question still remains - are drivers prepared to change the habit of a lifetime and climb on board on the buses?

As Worcester's traffic jams become worse and worse, we're sure the number of people using park-and-ride will rise. Let's face it, if we don't, the city's blocked arteries will lead to a heart attack that may prove fatal.