Baby grief genuine? Everything is planned by some politicians. Everything.

John, Peterborough, UK

No one can deny that new trolleybuses are more expensive to purchase than equivalent diesel buses, and do not require all the investment in overhead wires. However, they potentially last a great deal longer (and the electrical components can be re-used in a new generation of vehicles), and tend to have rather lower operating costs. They could be significantly cheaper in the longer term than, for instance, hybrid diesel-electric buses.

The French have a concept "BHNS" (bus à haute niveau de service), which is being applied in Lyon to their new trunk trolleybus routes, C1, C2 and C3. The idea is that you segregate the vehicles for part of the route from other traffic and facilitate the trolleybuses using vehicle-controlled traffic signals. That is not to say it wouldn't work with motor-buses; Rouen has its TEOR which compliments its tramway "Métro".

The great benefit of trolleybuses is that for minimum visual pollution, you get minimum on-street pollution.

Martin Nimmo, London,

Yesterday I witnessed an example of the reliability of th ordinary motor bus when the #66 failed to show up at 7:30, and the next one failed to show up at 8!

When I lived in Stuttgart I never saw a trolley fail. But then the Germans do maintenence on their public transport - something obviously passe over here....

Don , Ipswich, UK

"A whole world or cynicism and spite unwittingly encapsulated in one columnist"!

Mark, London,

Hi Matthew! I was very surprised and pleased to see your perceptive remarks about trams. However, they can work in special circumstances e.g. Midland Metro which runs along the route of a disused railway. A friend of mine was unlucky enough to have worked on the Sheffield supertram. This caused huge traffic disruption during the construction phase and was immensely unpopular with the locals. One night he was foolish enough to walk into a pub in his contractor's jacket and was almost lynched!

Ian, Beijing, China

Why are the G7 nations dont interfear in the Zimbabwe affairs before it take twist like 1994 Rwanda genocide.

Why do politicians who bribe there party Mps to change the limits on governance be allowed to host big summits or sports eg Uganda hosting common wealth summite

AFRICANUS, WEST LOTHIAN, scotland

Diesel buses are certainly currently cheaper. The drawbacks are that they run on a fuel which is fast running out and which therefore will get prohibitively expensive as it gets scarcer, thus making them very much more expensive to operate and that despite all efforts to reduce the emissions, they stilll produce vastly more greenhouses gases than electric vehicles such as trams or trolleybuses (even using normal 'grid' electricity) and they produce concentrations of noxious fumes in towns and cities that worsen people's health and result in premature death. So if you have no interest in sustainability, global warning or public health they're fine!

Gordon Mackley, East Malling, UK

Subliminal is worth pondering whenever anyone prefaces a remark with the cliche 'to be honest.'

dr venables preller, Warminster, UK

cynical and spiteful describes Matthew Parris perfectly. he is the least objective journalist i can think of, and that is some feat.. tom mckay tyne & wear

tom mckay, tyne & wear,

Mr Mitchell, Spalding has a couple of traffic lights. Visit Leeds and you will see what a fantastic job the council have done. I travel 4 miles to work and have to go through 36 sets of traffic lights, soon to be 38 with another new junction constructed by Leeds City Council and taking 10 months of daily delays and disruption. The coucil have created concrete tramways for buses to go down the centre of the roads. It took over 2 years to contruct and now passengers have to cross the road to get to the bus stops. Guess what these concrete tramways replaced? Yes you've guessed it bus lanes. Which form of transport is cheaper? Hint cost of constructing and maintaining railtrack.

PHIL EDWARDS, LEEDS, U.K.

Trams. Mr Paris is 100 percent correct. Just before he retired after 40 years on the roads, my father was involved in laying the track for the Manchester Metrolink. His company had to dig up all the serivces - water, sewage, gas, telephone lines, electricity and move the whole lot to one side of the route of the rail tracks.

Can you imagine how expensive that would be?

I might add that the bus of the future is powered by gas (LPG or CNG) is wisper quiet and burns its fuel so cleaning it hard pollutes at all. In stark contrast to a conventional diesel bus.

Perhaps that's why gas buses are used all over the world from Delhi to Seoul to NY to Beijing.

But not in the UK. Of course.

J H Holloway, London,

It's so comforting to know that I'm not the only pedantic old git who dislikes unnecessary change.

RichardCr, Baden, SWitzerland

It IS 'Strand' isn't it, even though we naturally write and say 'the Strand'? Just 'Strand' on the street sign I think, and see Rosemary Ashton's study of "142 Strand: a Radical Address in Victorian England" (Chatto & Windus, 2006)

Mike Brealey, Bristol, UK

"A whole world of cynicism and spite" in one adverb - it's amazing what you can find if you look hard enough (especially if you're cynical and spiteful).

Ken Leyland, Liverpool, U.K.

It is Haymarket. Definitely not THE Haymarket.

Stephen Ward, Highgate,

I dont understand whatsoever the reference to the Walworth road etc. But I have always wondered why a tram is better than a Bus or even a bendy bus, These latter beasts can go on any part of the road, need no track and are available off the shelf.. power them by electricity if pollution requires. Please explain this paradox of modern transport theory. dream of a Super tram that goes from Croydon to Vienna without changing, at 300kph+

RonB, london uk, uk

Mitchell is right . Go to Melbourne,Prague & Zurich where trams provide quiet,punctual restful transport. See the public relax in trams protected from the mayhem of other traffic. Even the straphangers in rush hour remain humanly happy because they know the tram will get them through to their City centre stop without delay. Of course the cities named have wide 19th Century streets,not so easily found in UK. Even so before WW2 in the Thirties tram routes in squalid towns like Portsmouth were miracles. I still return to marvel at Bradford Junction where 6 tram routes emerged from narrow alleys to wage crossover precedence. I used to admire Matthew but these days he has had his sell by date.

Kenneth Perry , STREET Somerset, UK

Don't forget the Balls Pond Road and the Kilburn High Road!!

v k ratliff, london,

You're completely wrong about trams. Trams are still in widespread use across Europe and the rest of the world. A single tram can transport many hundreds of people. Try getting them on a row of trolley buses, let alone motor buses, and imagine which form of transport is more efficient and cheaper. Hint: Only ONE driver!

Mike Mitchell, Spalding, England