I AM in total agreement with Richard Peak (Letters June 12) that the charge for the Park & Ride services in York is excessive; the charge should be per car not per person.

This sort of system operates in several other cities which have park and ride services, where the bus driver purchases a token before boarding the bus and inserts this token in a machine to exit. This has a number of advantages.

As the driver does not have to collect fares, the time taken to load is considerably shorter; the bus therefore spends more time moving, perhaps even to the extent that fewer buses will do the same amount of work.

It encourages people to 'car share'.

It stops people cheating. I have seen the following in action. Wife drives husband to car park, picks up two other people who have parked already and drives all three into York. In the evening the reverse applies and two people have parked all day for nothing!

However, the authorities in York seem to have only one principle where the motorist is concerned and that is to make life as difficult and expensive as possible.

Mike Usherwood,

Mendip Close,

Huntington, York.

...I WAS sorry to see the Evening Press concentrate on car parking, without discussing the wider transport policy issues.

Asking questions about car parking is all very well, but people are bound to say no to less parking, in the same way as they complain about congestion and pollution and buses that are held up by traffic.

The council has made great strides in trying to balance development, access and the environment in York, but it is always a balance. The Local Transport Plan was developed after consultation had shown that people wanted action to reduce traffic in order to relieve congestion, improve the environment and enhance access for other modes.

Improving the alternatives to the car is part of such a policy, but it is obvious that this is not enough to get large numbers of drivers out of their cars on its own. The council is right to try and restrain traffic and car parking is an effective tool to do this as part of a balanced transport policy.

York, quite rightly, uses the quality of its environment as an incentive to tempt employers to relocate here. Unrestricted traffic growth would destroy much of what makes York a special place.

Limiting traffic is important for York's economy as well as making environmental sense.

Matthew Page,

Emerald Street, York.

...YORK council continually attempts to reinvent the wheel.

Many other cities in England have the same problems as York, whether new development, such as swimming pools, or traffic congestion. Do councillors examine how these problems have been met in other cities?

Visit the North East coastal holiday resorts, which I am sure have more visitors daily than York, and look at how the traffic problem is handled. Visiting coaches are allowed to drop off and collect passengers at one specific spot, within walking distance of the town centre, and then go to a coach park on the perimeter of the town.

This should have been done when York St John College took over part of Union Terrace car park. A drop-off point could have been made there and the coaches should then have gone to one of the city's Park & Ride sites.

The Union Terrace car park would then have been kept for cars only, still raising revenue for the council coffers.

W Maddison,

Mill Lane, York.

...I DRIVE to work because I work in York and live in Driffield. There is no other way. I'd love to commute by train but it's not an option.

I would also like to use the Park & Ride every day but that is also not an option.

I arrive early, 7.30am, so getting a bus is not usually a problem. The problem is getting back. In the past three months I have waited half an hour to get on a bus on many occasions.

Twice it took me more than an hour to get back to Grimston Bar, and on a recent race day I was stuck on a Park & Ride bus bound for Askham Bar for one hour and 15 minutes.

Consequently, if there are any occasions when I need to make a quick getaway or visit family in York, I try to park - at vast expense - in the city centre. Typically, this will be about two days in every week.

By all means encourage Park & Ride but give us a service we can rely on.

KA Streatfield,

Spellowgate, Driffield.

Updated: 10:25 Tuesday, June 18, 2002