Sir – Public transport links across central Oxford, severed by 15 years’ bad planning, can be restored. But such links need capacity for many hundreds of passengers an hour and a route short enough to run without subsidy. And they must serve all passengers, not just those with less mobility.

New buses have reduced emissions in Oxford, but nitrous oxide levels in some central streets are still unacceptable. Greater emissions reductions must be part of the plan. Oxford’s Low Emission Zone applies only to buses. We call for it to include all taxis and goods vehicles in central Oxford.

Bus Users Oxford welcomes Robin Gill’s vision of a one-way tram loop along George Street, New Road, Queen Street and Cornmarket. In a distance of only about 1,100 metres it would link buses from all directions. Robin didn’t say where the depot would be.

However, the rail station could be reached by a 500-metre branch, which would both increase the tramway’s usefulness and allow siting its depot beside the railway.

Robin’s tramway would integrate perfectly with councillor Hudspeth’s vision of trams between St Giles and Oxford Airport, and with Witney Oxford Transport’s call for tram-trains on the route of the former Witney Railway to Oxford.

We support Robin’s proposal to pilot the loop with a bus every few minutes. Queen Street’s minimal accident rate proves buses work well in pedestrian-priority streets. Pedestrians would flow better in Cornmarket alongside one slow-moving bus than they do now circumnavigating buskers and Saturday peddlers.

We also suggest running buses, taxis and delivery vehicles on compressed natural gas (CNG), which emits almost no carbon particulates or nitrous oxides. Reading runs 34 buses on CNG from an anaerobic digester in Sussex, which is better than carbon-neutral. CNG vehicles cost and weigh less than electric hybrids and are very reliable.

Hugh Jaeger, Chairman, Bus Users Oxford