Sir – I am not sure that buses are the main cause of congestion, as Mr John Clezy thinks (Letters, June 4). I do, though, think they are the main cause of road damage in Oxford.

In both the city centre and in some suburbs, roads that are bus routes often show a lot of cracking and breaking of the surface near the kerb, or other places where bus wheels often go over the same patch of road; there is a good example at present at the junction of Broad Street and Magdalen Street West, where buses make a sharp turn right past Debenhams.

Damage near the kerb affects cyclists like me more than motorists. Park End Street, on the side going towards the station, has been getting progressively worse for many months.

I was recently in Stirling, in central Scotland. That city has smooth roads and smooth cycle tracks, without cracks, potholes, patches, or bumps. It does not have many cyclists, being very hilly. Why does Oxford, with so many cyclists, have such poor road surfaces just where cyclists have to travel them?

A.M. Hughes
Moody Road
Oxford