IT felt like that last scene from Kubrik's 2001, where the astronaut was pummelled through the black hole. First you see the eye, then the face wizened in terror. I experienced it all on the last bus from Whitby to York.

I was one of many that evening standing in the aisle, swaying with the movement of the bus negotiating Whitwell Hill, and attempting a smile towards the screaming kids who had recently piled out of Flamingo Land.

All the glib ads about public transport that are supposed to be "user friendly" go for nothing after that ghastly trip home.

I would rather walk.

Phil Shepherdson,

Chantry Close, Woodthorpe, York.

Updated: 10:49 Thursday, January 24, 2002