Sir, Did P. Berry (Letters, October 20) bicycle to India and Egypt or walk? Any other journey to India, then Egypt and back to Britain would emit a great mass of CO2. Flying would be by far the worst, squirting 2.5 tonnes per passenger into our vulnerable upper atmosphere.

I live three miles from central Oxford. I would need to commute by 'bus to the city centre for ten years to equal the environmental damage of those three flights. Companies now offer to plant trees on our behalf to offset CO2 emissions that we cause. Sadly, air travel is growing so quickly that our Earth could be incurably poisoned before such trees have matured.

Radial 'bus routes cannot link all parts of Oxford unless they interconnect in the centre. Orbital 'bus routes are too infrequent to offer much alternative.

Radial routes for North Oxford terminate at the wrong end of Cornmarket, cut off from all the routes through Carfax. Relatively few Stagecoach 7s reach Carfax via George Street and Queen Street.

The alternative of walking 350 yards down Cornmarket surely deters many passengers. People taking children, heavy shopping or avoiding foul weather are not lazy. Bad 'bus links encourage car use.

Carfax is Oxford's natural local 'bus interchange. Not all routes can serve Gloucester Green, Westgate 'bus proposals are too off-centre, and 'bus suggestions for Worcester Street car park have been rejected for many reasons.

Restoring 'buses to Cornmarket is feasible. A one-way 'bus loop around Cornmarket, George Street, New Road and Queen Street would improve connections, increase passengers and help our environment.

Hugh Jaeger, Oxford