HOWARD PERRY suggested (Letters, October 24) that Professor Tony May’s main challenge should be to achieve a reduction in the number of cars entering the city.

Traffic engineers have used an average of 1.2 persons per car in York.

Most of the cars which I overtake as I cycle into York are single occupancy.

This is a horrendous waste of road space. So perhaps more inducements to car share should feature.

This would release a lot of capacity on existing roads.

By contrast, widening roads like the A1237, or building new ones, is a road to nowhere.

It simply encourages more car use, leading to bigger jams on bigger roads.

The methodology for assessing junction capacity seems to rely heavily on counting vehicle numbers.

Perhaps vehicle occupancy should be counted instead, and traffic lights phased to get the greatest number of individuals through a junction.

Micklegate Bar is a prime example. Outbound use by cyclists only has sensibly been mooted.

A few seconds of green time would let a dozen cyclists out, at the expense of maybe three car drivers elsewhere on the junction.

And once they drive off, they will of course very quickly reach the next red light, or the back of the next queue.

Paul Hepworth, Windmill Rise, Holgate, York