I READ with interest Steve Metcalfe's letter in last week's Citizen.

While I agree with his opening sentiments regarding the use of trams and light trains, I feel I must disagree with his comments about private motor cars.

A tram system would be a positive boon in helping to cure our chronic traffic problems. As for use of trains I would go much further than Steve and would lobby for the vast majority of freight to be carried by rail.

Getting the lorries off our roads would help not only the environment but would dramatically reduce road casualties as well. I would even go as far as re-opening some of the branch lines savaged by Dr Beeching in the 1960s. I realise that such a radical proposal would cost money. Could not Gordon Brown release some of the £38 billion he leaches off the motorist every year? Banning or pricing private cars off the road is not the answer to pollution. More money must be invested in environmentally-friendly alternatives to the internal combustion engine. Once again, funding for research and development could come from our road and fuel taxes.

Only one sixth of revenue raised is currently spent on the roads, so there is an opportunity for the government to do something positive for a change. The proposed workplace parking taxes and congestion charges are a cynical ploy by the government to raise yet more revenue from the hard-pressed motorist, and will not reduce congestion or pollution one iota.

Above all else, if public transport is to work, it must be clean, cheap, regular, and attractive to the customer...a complete reversal of what we currently have. You won't legislate people out of their cars but you may tempt them out, if the alternative is attractive enough. I remember the buses of the fifties and sixties. They were always regular, cheap and comprehensive in their routes. Their utilisation of a conductor ensured that the driver stopped only to pick up and set down, thus saving time by not having to take fares.

We'll have to wait and see what decisions the government comes up with for the future of transport. As for sensible ones, well, I'm not holding my breath!

PC Paul Rasmussen

Lancaster

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.