BUS lanes, and expensive extension of the same, occur in all options offered in City of York Council's transport survey, when even John Prescott's department now says they cause delays and gridlocks for buses and cars.

Middlesbrough's saved '30 seconds' a journey. Birmingham's made bunching worse, Sheffield's took longer, and Aberdeen's was a disaster to buses. Most of these towns have roads of a decent width, unlike York.

The survey was a wonder of statistics presented in ways which are utterly meaningless to the public. Was the real message that experts know best?

Of course, a bus station was not an option for York. Not a mega-bucks survey result, but I would guess that a lot of York people don't use buses because they haven't a clue where they go, what they connect with and how to get back on a different route/timing. That's what bus stations are for, isn't it, should people ever want to stray off the one or two routes they have memorised, usually just before they're changed or cancelled?

The Department of the Environment, Transport and Regions says bus lanes can work, but only as an element of an integrated local travel plan. I bet they assumed a bus station, or even two.

C Wilson,

Cromwell Road, York.