I WAS glad to read in your paper that there are a few leading councillors actively considering an alternative public transport system, though I lost enthusiasm quickly when I read some of the ideas being considered.

Before even embarking on a new study the councillors need to drop their support for moving all Accident and Emergency and maternity services to Bournemouth. That in an instance would generate even more road journeys across the conurbation - a self shot in the foot for a start.

Beyond that start, they need to open up discussion to the whole area and Dorset County. Ideas that are just touristy gimmicks need to be kicked into the long grass, and making whatever is created genuinely affordable to potential users needs to be paramount.

My own belief is that the system needs to be rail and track based. We already have a spine running from Wareham/Turlin Moor to Christchurch and New Milton, through Poole Town Centre, Branksome, Lansdowne and Boscombe/Pokesdown, with a surviving spur that runs close to Westbourne, and another through Hamworthy to the Port - and about three trains per hour in each direction on the main drag.

There is still land available to connect a line to Hurn Airport and Ferndown. That leaves Winton, Wallisdown, Northbourne, Canford Heath, Broadstone, and the Wimborne/Verwood/Three Legged Cross areas to link in somehow.

Before dismissing this as a pipe dream it is worth pointing out that in Singapore, where one of my sons was working, in the period from 2014 to October 2017 they massively increased the Downtown Line, extending it underground to cover more of the city, adding a spur that went 10 plus miles out, mainly elevated overground, to link with the airport, and extending another line to reach the Botanical Gardens. No doubt this was expensive to build, but the standard fare for a journey is still $0.77 - or about 50 pence in UK money. A longer trip still costs less than a short bus trip in this area. The only bit of monorail they have in Singapore is from the upper floor of a shopping centre on the mainland, to a holiday island - Sentossa.

This is the one area where a "super council" might make a difference. I remember raising the need to allow conurbations to set up "Local Transport Authorities" (LTAs) at national events for local Government many years ago (never attended by anyone from Bournemouth), and being told that we were too small (even as a conurbation) and lacked the density of development.

Maybe, as we're stuck with the merger, we need to make a case to be given the freedom to set up an LTA.

The new "super council" needs to be more than an ego trip for a handful of councillors, and needs to make a difference. Better public transport is the biggest opportunity on offer.

TONY TRENT

Fraser Road, Wallisdown