SIR – Several years ago I attended a meeting at County Hall, held by the consultancy that had been called in to “consult” over various schemes for the improvement of traffic flow into the city (for consult read we will ask, but if we don’t like the answer we will ignore it).

It became apparent in that meeting that the actual agenda put in place by County Hall was to divorce motorists from their cars by making it as difficult as possible for them to get into the town centre other than by public transport, and that the out-of-town park and ride scheme was the premier option.

The actual effect is to divorce drivers from the town centre, which will inevitably lead to its decline. Consult the shopkeepers!

I pointed out at that time, certainly in the case of Newtown Road which I use several times a week both at peak and off-peak times, that the congestion was minimal and that the expenditure of £3 million was totally unjustified.

I pointed out that the major cause of any congestion at peak periods was the amount of time that buses were stationary while picking up and discharging passengers and the way to overcome this was to re-introduce conductors who would, of course, collect fares while the vehicle was in motion.

The cost? Ratepayers already contribute £100,000 per bus, per annum, in subsidy and I am sure the £3 million squandered on a useless bus lane would cover the cost of the additional staff for years.

Ted Holloway
planning officer
Warndon Parish Council