Sir – Dr Pritchard (Letters, March 12) is quite right to point out that neither the county council’s nor the bus companies’ plans go far enough to resolve the problem of transport within greater Oxford.

Nothing less than a light-rail system will eliminate noise and air pollution, or provide enough capacity and opportunity for growth.

The air pollution caused by buses is particularly unacceptable, and is without doubt causing ailments from mere headaches, through asthma, to cancer. (Submicron particles emitted carry benzene deep into the lungs and are not removed by any available particle trap.) Batteries will not displace internal combustion in anything heavier than a car for decades yet.

Power transmission along a permanent way is the only efficient clean option.

Trams can be narrower than buses, and do not continually manoeuvre laterally, leaving far more room for pedestrian and cycle paths. They consume far less energy (at most a third as much), need emit no exhaust of any kind, and have the potential to dramatically reduce overall carbon emission. Coupled carriages offer greater and extensible capacity.

No overhead cable is now necessary, thanks to the proven French APS system. While expensive to build, the life of such a system is long and its value high.

It seems there is no body with the vision to commission it, leaving bus companies free to let the public meet all the external costs imposed by their pollution, just as they do those of their track. Might we not impose such tight regulation upon them that they may be forced to help finance what Oxford really needs and deserves?

Dr Ian East, Islip