Kieran Preston is very clear that he wants an integrated transport system that improves life for the people of West Yorkshire, as he says in the first paragraph of his letter (YEP, October 20).
I just don’t understand why he bothered writing the other paragraphs after that!
Obviously the NGT trolleybus scheme as it stands will improve journey times by three or four minutes on one route into Leeds from Holt Park, but at the expense of mature trees, gardens, shops and houses that will be subject to compulsory purchase orders. Also at the expense of other bus routes into the city, which will be held up at the five traffic stacking intersections along the A660 corridor, and at the expense of cycle lanes.
His second and third paragraphs don’t refer to the trolleybus at all, but to pie in the sky.
He also states that the previous government made it clear that funding would only be available for a bus-based system. Well, please, just improve the current bus system then. Reduce the fares. This would make people get out of their cars, which would make the roads clearer, which would shave three or four minutes off journey times from Holt Park to the city centre, without having to fell trees, steal gardens, erase cycle lanes, vandalise Woodhouse Moor, demolish shops and stack traffic.
In his next letter could he please be clearer about how he wants to improve life for the residents of West Yorkshire? Maybe by shelving the NGT trolleybus scheme.
E Wells, Ash Gardens, LS6
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