MG’s letter “Go and park outside your own places” (June 23) made me smile when I thought about your anonymous writer parking outside someone else’s property who shared their sentiments. But some of the main points raised were valid and did strike a chord.

Everywhere I go there are traffic jams, from people who use the motorway to those using roads in towns like Bournemouth.

Getting from where we live to where we work and then back again has become a chore. Not only is it tiring, but it’s costly for us motorists.

We like to complain even if it’s not justifiable by saying public transport is awkward, slow and involves a lot of waiting around. Neither of which prevents me from taking the bus into Poole. However, if everyone started using public transport it would get more focused and would eventually improve. The economy of scale would reduce fares and we could all benefit from a relaxed journey reading the Daily Echo first thing in the morning. We would need more buses and trains running more often with better organisation to make sure that the connections between different modes of transport were efficient. In most cases, especially with those working at the same location doing regular hours at work, the whole thing would be doable if only the journey was made more advantageous by having free public transport. Something the companies alleged to have caused in MG’s letter may wish to review on a trial basis with the bus companies. It would be nice if they had their say in this column.

I’m not suggesting we penalise the motorist or force people onto public transport to free up our roads and parking spaces. That’s far too draconian.

I would like to entice the motorist into using public transport because it saves them money, the problem of parking and is comfortably reliable. Statistically 78 per cent of the public use cars to travel to work. Yet there are no accurate statistics of the full cost of free public transport in the UK.

There is however a great deal of pie in the sky with varying estimates depending on what side of the fence you stand. But without that essential building block, the main argument for free public transport falls at the first hurdle.

MIKE FRY, Moorland Crescent, Upton