If Mr Mitchell (Vanishing buses, Letters, April 1) or any other complainant about the late running of our buses would like to do something positive about the situation then I will inform him that First York are always recruiting drivers.

If he thinks he can do any better I am sure he will at least get an interview.

Alternatively, spend a three-hour stint with one driver, either on a day ticket or his new free pass, noting all the causes of the delays.

He will find that the car drivers of York are among the most selfish and incompetent in the country, like the numbskull who blocked Exhibition Square on Tuesday morning by stopping on the green cyclists' bay at the front of the queue, blocking in one bus and preventing several others from reaching the bus stops. The queue of cars and buses stretched back to Lendal Bridge.

There is never a policeman about at these times. (They were all aircraft spotting.)

Steve Oxbrow, Lindley Road, York.


* While sympathetic to Mr Mitchell's plight over the vanishing no 5 bus, I must inform him that the council has no contract with First to run this service.

Indeed, apart from the Park&Ride contract, the vast majority of bus services in the city, including the no 5, are run on a purely commercial basis with no subsidy at all.

We do have a modest budget of £474,000, which is used to subsidise some rural, evening and weekend services, which are run by a variety of operators including Veolia, Arriva, East Yorkshire, as well as First.

We have no contract with any bus provider in the city in the way that Mr Mitchell implies.

Contrary to his comments, the City of York Council pays very little to First York for bus services.

Coun Ann Reid, Executive member for city strategy, City of York Council, Grassholme, Woodthorpe, York.