Jean Rogers denigrates the county council's upgrade of the Thornhill park-and-ride at Headington, Oxford (Oxford Mail, June 9).

There was a time when public buildings were expected to be of poor quality, dingy and uncomfortable.

The workhouse was depressingly awful in the mistaken belief that people would take steps to avoid being sent there.

Life has moved on. People expect their schools, libraries, benefit offices, council receptions etc to be clean, comfortable, warm, well-lit and of a comparable quality to a hotel or a modern store.

Public services are increasingly competing in a market place for consumers who can pick and choose.

Nowhere is this more true than for public transport.

People expect their buses and trains to be clean, comfortable, safe and on time and they expect to wait for their public transport in comfortable, clean and pleasant surroundings.

If we can't provide that degree of comfort and quality, many customers will vote with their feet and use their car.

The loos at Thornhill do not have gold-plated taps, Mrs Rogers.

Neither are the seats deeply luxurious, but the surroundings are pretty good and comfortable enough for passengers waiting for their bus.

And so they should be. I hope we can organise more improvements at Thornhill and our other four park-and-rides, starting with a newspaper vendor, hot and cold drinks and snacks, a car valeting service and a leave-and-collect car servicing facility, to mention only a few.

We are eight years into the 21st century, Mrs Rogers.

Councillor Keith Mitchell, Leader, Oxon County Council