Sir – Tramways can cost significantly less than railways and can repay their capital costs, but only on the busiest public transport routes. For Oxford, these are Cowley Road, Banbury Road, London Road, Iffley Road, Oxford–Witney and Oxford–Abingdon.

Dr Pritchard (Letters, October 18) identifies that public transport must have a hub, and trams must serve the rail station. By contrast, M. Palmer wants two routes that would not meet. One would end at Carfax (too small for a terminus); the other at St Giles (too remote). Peter Berry (Letters. October 25) thinks trams could survive exclusion from High Street. However, more UNESCO World Heritage cities are getting tramways. It insults High Street’s great buildings to suggest their looks would be spoilt by modern trams merely gliding by.

Longwall is too small and remote for a terminus. Only long, articulated trams could replace double-deck buses.

Within Longwall, they could not turn around, so we would need double-ended trams that reverse out, like trains at a terminus. Longwall would have to exclude all other traffic. Since 2000, our county council has butchered bus links across central Oxford by closing Cornmarket and strangling Queen Street. The city council has refused bus shelters for High Street and Bonn Square.

These attacks on passengers must be reversed, but councillors dogmatically insist buses must stay out.

Trams and tram stops are welcomed in many pedestrian spaces from which buses are barred, eg in Sheffield, Freiburg and Bordeaux.

A one-way tram loop along George Street, lower Worcester Street, New Road, Queen Street and Cornmarket would maximise connections between radial routes, share tram traffic fairly between streets, keep tram junctions simple and allow for pedestrians and cyclists.The Coalition promised to make it easier for councils to make a case for trams. Our county council should prepare its case without delay.

Hugh Jaeger, Chairman, Bus Users UK Oxford Group, Oxford