I travel the length and breadth of the country on buses, trains and underground systems - in Scotland the transport is clean and more importantly up to date.

In Leeds, they have brand new state of the art double-deckers, in Sheffield the Metro system is swift and some buses are articulated. Back in York we have old Leylands with high steps, they smoke like mad, they are dirty and clapped out.

Old people have difficulty boarding them, mothers with push chairs have to wait for low floor single-deckers, I believe there are a few around.

Why is it First Group allow this to happen when profits are soaring? They are implementing a Metro system next year, yet they still run ancient buses which should have been scrapped years ago.

J Stephens,

Haxby Road, York.

...What do the citizens of York have to do to get a reliable bus service? I travel on the X19 bus to and from work between Rawcliffe and Stonebow which, according to the timetable, is a half-hourly service between Clifton Moor and York.

On Wednesday, November 29, I left work in Stonebow at 3.30pm to catch the 3.44pm X19 bus. This failed to arrive and I had to wait for the 4.14pm.

On Friday, December 1, the 3.44pm and the 4.14pm failed to arrive and I eventually travelled home on the 4.44pm having waited one and a quarter hours.

I used to travel to and from work on the one-hourly Skelton to York number 32 bus service that terminates at the Theatre Royal. This service too is just as unreliable in that buses fail to turn up and I and other passengers have been left waiting for hours on many occasions. I have written to the bus company First York several times regarding the unreliability of this service and have received various excuses in reply.

If First York is not able to provide a bus service as listed on the timetable even though it has increased its fares by up to 50 per cent, then I think it should not be allowed to renew its contract.

Karina Reed,

Howard Link,

Rawcliffe,

York.