Evening Press Reader's Letter

It comes as something of a surprise to read David Bowe's (MEP) letter (December 22) in which he states that North Yorkshire County Council sent back £800,000 of government funding which had been allocated to improve the quality of the region's bus services.

Allow me to clarify the issue. First, the criteria for use of the funds, only having been made available at the end of June, meant that the earliest possible date for implementing the funds was at the beginning of September, allowing time for discussions with operators and a period for registrations.

Second, as the money was restricted to conventional bus services, spending all the money in the budget at once would have meant that many of the new services would have had to have been withdrawn on April 1, 1999.

This would have been totally the wrong approach and would not have done anything to encourage passenger confidence which is essential to successful bus services.

North Yorkshire County Council has carefully planned to spend its full allocation this year on services that are sustainable in the future and which reflect the results of their consultation with parish councils, with whom they feel it is important to liaise so as to ensure local support.

I remain committed to guaranteeing a public transport service that will alleviate congestion on our roads and maintain an environmentally-friendly region.

We need a sustainable public transport service throughout the Vale of York in which passengers have confidence.

Regrettably, this did not happen in the City of York, where First Bus withdrew its service from Haxby-Wigginton to the station and the hospital.

Anne McIntosh

MP for the Vale of York,

House of Commons,

London.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.