THE month-long "Don't Choke Britain" campaign launched by the government aims to curb the car.

But, as with all such anti-car logic, this campaign collides with the fact that people love their cars.

It will take a sea change of sentiment to make them fall out of love with them - even if there are compelling economic, environmental and health reasons why they should.

The best way of bringing that about is by making public transport much better - and that means much more than leaving it to market forces to work the improvements.

The swoops uncovering dodgy buses, the disappearance of rural services and, with trains after privatisation, the decline of services in some regions are all evidence that the market needs to be controlled by an overall transport strategy and, perhaps, huge subsidies to make the alternatives to the car - buses, trains and trams - much more attractive.

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