CAN someone please either confirm or deny the following: York citizens have, through their council tax, paid for the purchase of land where necessary, the building costs and maintenance of the infrastructure of various park-and-ride facilities throughout the city.

First Bus is benefiting financially from these provisions without having made any contribution to the costs.

York citizens have paid about £500,000 for the upgrading of certain roadways to enable First Bus to operate its new FTRs, plus £200,000 on other gadgetry.

First Bus will benefit financially from these provisions without having made any contribution to the costs.

City of York Council is aware of the disgusting condition of Walmer Carr, in Wigginton, but is unable to find money to effect necessary repairs.

First Bus will continue to run a ten-minute service over this route to the detriment of residents who are forced to endure continual noise and vibration of their properties, cracking of walls and unknown damage to underground services.

This amounts to more than 500 buses per week traversing a carriageway which was never intended to carry heavy traffic.

The council wrote to me in December to say Walmer Carr will not be resurfaced in "the next programme" of repairs.

This is understandable because by that stage, of course, money was having to be found to enable the introduction of the FTRs. First wins again.

Come on! We pay our council tax. We deserve better treatment than this.

Alan L Rowntree,

Walmer Carr,

Wigginton,

York.

Updated: 10:44 Friday, March 03, 2006