I could almost feel the agony in the words of Andrew von Dadelszen, sub-committee chair of the Bay of Plenty Regional Public Transport Hearings Group (what a mouth full), reported recently when questioned on yet another idea to entice people onto our circulating empty expensive buses with the introduction of an Uber-like bus service… 'sort of, Yeah”.

Surely our elected representatives and bureaucrats at local, regional and central government can push back on this failed ideology that creates pollution, road congestion and crime.

In my opinion our various transport committees should be focusing on free-running corridors (carriageways) to accommodate the modes of transport of the day – not forcing a transport system well ahead of its time, especially in a spread-out, geographically-awkward, relatively small city.

In the medium term, battery and hydrogen powered vehicles will lower our carbon footprint; second-hand Nissan Notes are good price-entry vehicles.

As we move forward we need to help stem congestion with the four-laning of Turret Rd bridge, convert Hewletts Rd bus lanes to public use and add another lane each way on the harbour bridge.

Doug Morris, Te Puna.