TRAFFIC jams were on the agenda last night as a council committee met to discuss issues surrounding the problem.

The meeting of the Traffic Congestion Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee came only days after a part of York was brought to a standstill because of problems associated with racegoers travelling to York Races.

The issue was alluded to briefly at the meeting by Peter Evely, City of York Council's head of network management, who said that police forces nationally were no longer involved in policing planned events like York Races, but that councils had not yet been given the powers to enable them to stop and direct traffic and so ensure that traffic carried on flowing.

But the main issue of the meeting was what could be done to improve the bus network and encourage more people to use the city's buses.

To this end, representatives of the bus companies in York and the surrounding area were invited to give their opinions.

Coun Chris Hogg said that congestion in the city affected people in the suburbs as some of his constituents had told him how bus drivers for First sometimes broke the speed limit in Haxby and Wigginton to ensure they kept to their timetable.

Jonathon Stewart, of First, said he would look into the claims.

The issue of not being able to use one ticket for all the bus companies was also raised as was greater use of technology which would ensure buses had easier access through the city by giving them priority at traffic lights.

The reliability of public transport was also a major issue.

Mr Evely said a study had been conducted of two bus routes which had found that there was sometimes poor correlation between the timetable and when the bus actually turned up.

Mr Evely suggested it may be better to alter the timetables to better reflect the road conditions at different times of the day.

But he added: "We have too many vehicles trying to move in too small a space and when you have that problem, you will always have unreliability and congestion."

Councillors on the scrutiny committee noted the comments and will make recommendations about what can be done to improve traffic flow in the city at a future meeting.