AS expected, Paul Hepworth responds to sensible suggestions of getting traffic moving with his idyllic utopian views of stopping private vehicles and making people use public transport or (his pet subject) cycling within York (Letters, August 20).

Mr Hepworth, this is not going to happen! Firstly, there is no bus service of any quality serving the suburbs of York - take note of all the letters of protest published in the letters column over the last couple of months. Trains are too costly for Joe Public to contemplate - I can drive to most destinations, on my own, far more cheaply than I would pay on a train.

Cycles are fine... for the young and fit. But Mr Hepworth seems to ignore that we have an ageing population where the majority of we “oldies” (admittedly not all) are unable to pedal all the way into central York. Isn’t that being ageist?

Frankly, I see Mr Hepworth as a modern day Luddite and where would we be today if the Luddites had won the day and prevented modern machinery from succeeding?

In theory, banning cars from York would perhaps be great but in the absence of a working alternative it would be better if he began to think of making traffic work rather than than inventing ways to condemn it.

Bob Redwood, Main Street Askham Bryan York

 

PAUL Hepworth’s image’s in Thursdays soap box (Letters, Aug 20) paints a utopian picture of a place for all cyclists to aspire to: a heaven on earth for cyclists and motorists alike. All the cyclists are travelling in the same direction at a constant speed. All are driving within the white lines with helmets on, all are obedient to and observant of the laws of the road. I can’t help imagining if the image had shown them at night they would all have had proper lighting and hi-viz coats on. Unfortunately in the real world there would be cyclists on the foot paths, weaving in and out; and cyclists on their phones, or riding with their hands in pockets, a week’s shopping on their handlebars, or kids sitting precariously on various parts of the bikes.

D M Deamer, Penleys Grove Street, Monkgate, York

 

LOOKING at Mr Hepworth’s pictures (Letters, August 20) I could not believe my eyes, one depicted a “swarm”, as Mr Cameron would say, of cyclists riding in an orderly fashion, all in the same direction down a one way street and not one on the pavement. Where is this place, Cloud Cuckoo Land?

As for the installation of chicanes and bollards, why should the residents of these streets be treated as special cases? The very introduction of such schemes just concentrates traffic in other areas leading to more congestion and pollution in these places, defeating the object of such schemes.

A. P. Cox, Heath Close, Holgate, York

 

D MCTERNAN was spot on (Letters, August 17) with his comments about traffic management. I also agree that there has been too much talk and not enough action, with too much attention paid to the anti-car brigade who think the biggest sin is to own and run a car. I hope Julian Sturdy takes note.

Last year I tried using the bus to work but gave up after about four weeks. Whilst the bus came within reasonable time and the weekly ticket at £12 was good value this was not so good on the return home as I finished work not long after a Number 1 had gone. This meant a lengthy wait of over 20 minutes for the next Number 1 or 14. The seats on the older buses are very hard and very few seats have good legroom. Also the seats facing towards the rear are often dirty because there is nearly always someone who thinks it is ok to put their feet on the seats.

The final straw came on a Saturday when I finished work in the early afternoon. On arrival at the station the indicators showed a Number 1 due in seven minutes. Within a few minutes a Number 1 arrived but I was not informed it was not the next departure which arrived on the Number 4 stand and left without picking anyone up.

Ian Foster Hawthorne Avenue Haxby