Sir – Keith Dancey asks how would replacing a bus seat with a tram seat improve matters (Letters, November 29)? Keith and some of the recent contributors to these pages are missing the point. It’s not about trams; it’s about the freedom to enjoy the city. Do you like the freedom of the Cornmarket experience? If so, why not pedestrianise St Giles, the High, St Aldates and other streets in Oxford by removing traffic. A double-decker bus has a capacity to move approximately 90 people, whereas a typical three-car tram can move in excess of 300 people, a ratio of one to three, now scale up that ratio.

If you have one tram movement every half hour over an eight-hour period that would be 16 trams and they would replace 48 bus movements and that Keith is the difference. If you doubt me go online and search for any city in the world that uses trams and see for yourself. All trams do is move large numbers of people quietly, safely and efficiently around a city and take up far less space than buses.

Local government already recognises trams, it’s in their Local Transport Plan 2011-2030, all they need to do is implement their plans.

Mike Palmer, Witney