TONY Augarde writes (Oxford Mail ViewPoints, May 3),about the ridiculously long routes which traffic must take to get from A to B and the extra pollution which it causes within the city.

I agree with him fully. It’s because of such reasons that so many people do not come into Oxford and prefer to go to other towns for their shopping, namely Banbury, Aylesbury, Reading and Swindon.

For senior citizens, there is free travel to these places by bus. It is a day out and one doesn’t have to come into the city centre to catch these buses.

I know this is not good for the traders in the city, but they know who to blame for this.

Now that the High Street roadworks have finished, traffic does move faster but the volume of traffic is still the same and even outside the rush-hour, the same number of buses are used.

It’s there to be seen that both bus companies run almost together. This does not make economic sense.

We are all aware that engines are getting cleaner, but we will have to put up with the volume of it for many years to come.

Forget the idea of a tram system in Oxford. All I can say about that is ‘dream on’.

COLIN SMITH George Moore Close Donnington Oxford