Reader letter: Public transport users should be prioritised

West Sussex County Council will receive a £17.4million pound government grant to boost its vital bus services, but this is a far cry from its £138million Bus Improvement Plan Bid.

Compared against £41.4million awarded to East Sussex, £27.9million to Brighton & Hove and £48.3million to Portsmouth, we now see how hard done by we are.

WSCC states: “Our transport team will continue to work with bus operators to develop the plan through identifying achievable ways to improve local services by encouraging more people to use them.”

But ‘improving local bus services to encourage more people to use them’ will not be achieved through doing away with Chichester’s centrally located bus station and information office so conveniently located within easy walking distance from the adjacent railway station.

The World Health Organisation says air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to human health. There are about 40,000 annual early deaths in the UK caused by toxic air where the legal limit for nitrogen dioxide is four times higher than the new WHO limit.

Everyone needs to know the filthy harmful air we’re breathing: the invisible killer. Nearly all UK homes suffer air pollution above WHO limits.

Air pollution affects us all: it’s the new asbestos. We can now check how polluted our streets are at addresspollution.org.

This is the green age of public transport. Bus and train passengers must come first.