With the news that the ftr is being withdrawn from evening and weekend services by First York (Off the road, The Press, May 9), we are seeing the long goodbye for this ridiculous vehicle.

I confidently predict that as soon as politically expedient, the ftr will vanish without trace, most likely after the next local council elections in 2011.

Coun Galloway’s Lib Dems invested not only their political reputations, but £1.3 million of our money on introducing this shambles. Unfortunately, the ftr continues to draw on the public purse, with fortunes spend on road repairs along its route.

I believe £200,000 is to be spent on reconstructing University Road, where the ftr created its own tramlines with ruts approaching 12 inches deep before they were temporarily patched. I challenge Coun Galloway to reveal what other vehicle of comparable or heavier weight and size has travelled on this road at such a frequency to cause such damage. He won’t be able to.

As well as being totally unsuitable for the width of York’s roads, the ftr is obviously too heavy as well. Recently much has been written about bus service cuts on other routes. It is worth considering that for a fraction of the money wasted on the ftr not only could the council have subsidised needed routes but would have had more money available for road repairs.

Sadly, I believe fortunes will continue to be spent on keeping the Lib-Dem express (ftr) on the road in the run up to the 2011 election. However, it is pleasing to note that Coun Galloway’s pledge at the ftr’s introduction to roll the service out across all routes has been quietly dropped.

M Warters, Yew Tree Mews, Osbaldwick, York.