I FOUND Coun Ann Reid's comments about free bus travel interesting reading (Letters, March 11).

I am very pleased for the qualifying people who will be eligible for free bus travel from April 1.

On the other hand I feel sorry for the post-16 students who look as though they are going to lose their free travel passes from North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) very shortly, which sort of makes a mockery out of the Government's schemes to encourage public transport use for all.

Reading between the lines it looks a bit like robbing Peter to pay Paul as it seems obvious that the Government hasn't fully funded the participating councils for the costs of providing the free travel to eligible residents.

Surely NYCC can look for other ways of topping up inadequate funding from the Government without taking away the student's travel passes?

Further education is very important and not all students can live next door to their chosen college of study. Public transport use should be encouraged for all sectors, not just certain categories.

In the words of my old mum, nothing is for nothing and if anything is advertised "free" it comes at a cost somewhere else down the line (possibly the loss of students' bus passes and possibly the axing of certain rural bus services).

Katy Wood,

Orchard Road,

Malton.

Updated: 10:49 Monday, March 20, 2006