Sir – Several letters (October 18) predicted disaster if nothing was done to alleviate the traffic pressures in Oxford.

Two letters advocated a rapid transport system (RTS) or tramway with appropriate connections to other forms of surface transportation.

This may well be what we need, but I see one flaw in the proposal for a tramway system: if surface-mounted, it cannot readily cross existing roads or railways without complicated junctions, or (if crossing rivers) by very expensive bridges. Some years ago you published a letter from me advocating an RTS based on monorails, similar to those already used in Seattle, USA.

Perhaps this idea was too far ahead of its time for Oxonians, since it produced no response, but it may be useful to consider it again now that the problem is more pressing.

Forget the depressing images of the “El” or elevated railway in New York; this would not involve a cat’s cradle of rusting ironwork overhead, or the dirty screeching trains running over it.

My proposal is for a smooth concrete beam (deeper than wide) supported on concrete pillars. On it would ride almost-silent, electrically-powered and rubber-tyred buses. While the body of the bus would sit on top of the beam, its sides would extend downwards to give stability and pick up power from cables embedded in the beam.

Much of the system could be at or near ground level but the beam could also rise on ever-higher pillars to hop over obstacles such as roads or rivers.

An elevated section could even run along an existing street without interfering with traffic there. Almost all the bus-stops, hubs and interconnections would closely resemble those for a tramway. Don’t dismiss this as “futuristic”, that perennial excuse for doing nothing and making a new idea go away. The technology is either already established or readily achievable. Oxford needs an RTS now, not next century.

John Tiffany, Oxford