IF City of York Council is serious about reducing the gridlock and the estimated cost to the city of £100 million-plus by 2026, it is time common sense was shown.

Stop pandering to a tiny minority with attempts to make York a cycle-friendly city.

Stand on any major road with a cycle lane and you will see cars outnumber cycles by at least 50-1.

Cycling is healthy and environmentally friendly. However, our roads are already at breaking point without giving up lanes and space to such a minority group.

There is scope to make cycling safer with cycle-only lanes, etc, but this should be restricted to sharing suitable footpaths and riverside routes with pedestrians, and not the already overcrowded access routes to our city.

There are people who use their bike every day, but the reason most of us don’t is that it is totally impractical Park&Ride can help and should be expanded, but to encourage people to use it, city-centre car parks should be greatly reduced if not scrapped altogether.

The lost revenue from parking charges would be more than made up by selling or leasing these sought-after sites for development.

Paul Spink, Seventh Avenue, Heworth, York.

• I WELCOME the debate that has been promulgated by the Press regarding “Get York Moving”.

I refer to Letters, November 4. The ten items listed by David Quarrie should have included dualling the A1237 for its entire length.

Paul Hepworth’s tape measure needs changing if he thinks that six cycles can fit into the space taken by one car – I would estimate that on average three cycles on the move take up one car space.

But Paul would say that, wouldn’t he?

The points made by Ralph Magee are entirely right.

For me to use Park&Ride, I would have to drive out of York to catch the bus back in.

Hence, the people driving into York from outside the city are far better catered for than residents who have to pay the bills.

Let’s hope that your campaign produces some sensible thinking and really does get traffic moving again.

Steve Helsdon, Howe Hill Close, Holgate, York.

• OVER two evenings this week (Wednesday and Thursday), there were major accidents on the A1237, involving several emergency services vehicles in each case – ambulance, police and fire service.

Both of these incidents occurred near to roundabouts (Clifton Moor/ Wigginton Road and Earswick/Huntington).

Such incidents are sometimes caused by the selfish actions of impatient drivers trying to overtake stationary traffic in order to make a right turn.

As a regular user of this stretch of the outer ring road, this is something I witness day in and day out.

Through your pages and possibly with the support of the police, could a drive be mounted to eradicate this potentially lethal practice from the roads of York, so that we all have a better chance of getting to and from work in one piece?

An unmarked police vehicle with a camera would pick up dozens of such incidents in any given week, and even if it is just to caution drivers and bring the consequences of their actions home to them it would surely be of benefit.

My thoughts go to any innocent victims of these accidents and their families.

Ian Richardson, Grimwith Garth, Clifton Moor, York.

• SO AFTER six months, a near-fatal accident, numerous near misses and many complaints from local residents, the authorities have realised that the bus lane in Fulford Road needs to be scrapped. Thank goodness common sense has at last prevailed.

As a resident of Maple Grove, I witnessed the lane being constructed. It was obvious to me and everyone I talked to that this was a crazy idea, fraught with danger.

It was evident that little thought had been applied by those in authority as to the difficulties many would experience.

Why then did those responsible for the instigation of this mad idea not realise the dangers and problems the scheme would cause?

We are told that it will cost £15,000 to return the road to the way it was. Where is that money coming from?

We are living at a time of cut-backs.

May I suggest that those responsible for this foolish, irresponsible and expensive mistake consider their position and realise that this sort of error is unacceptable.

Geoff Alderson, Maple Grove, Fulford Road, York.

• THE estimated cost of gridlock at £100 million by 2026 (The Press, November 3) is eye-watering and raises the same question that occurs whenever there is need for action on the part of our council.

Will our well-paid council officers sort the problem out or will they resort to highly paid consultants to do a job that we pay them well to do in the first place?

Avoidance of blame will, as always, be the watchword.

JA Whitmore, Springfield Road, York.

• I READ with interest the recent article about York Liberal Democrats’ Park&Ride aspirations (The Press, October 16).

The article mentioned “businesses and residents in York are being urged to write to the UK’s political leaders in a bid to salvage the city’s mothballed Park&Ride expansion”.

The previous Labour Government supported these schemes and the coalition does not. This request was a part of the council’s “ask”: a series of requests of the new coalition Government.

These asks are being ignored and lacked ambition. For example, there is no mention of improving transport links with Leeds Bradford Airport or dualling sections of the outer ring road. I support the “ask” initiative, but the “ask” lacks the ambition a Labour council could provide.

Coun James Alexander, Leader of City of York Council’s Labour opposition group, Holgate Road, Holgate, York.