London has the tube, an excelent bus system, a comprehensive transport policy and how many railway stations?. We have a shit bus service, metro trams that are expensive, serve only about 20% of the area and stop running at the drop of a hat. Plus linear parks instead of train lines, unmanned railway stations that Arnold Schwartzeneger would not enter at night and rolling stock that had seen better days when Kipling wrote 'it's a special train for Atkins'!

If I could get from Salford in the west to Rusholme in the south, less than 5 miles and about 15 minutes by car, in less than an hour and without traveling on at least 2 buses and then get home again after 11pm I may consider it. Until such a time they cannot hope to get private cars off the road.

Yes, we do need to reduce vehicles and pollution and no we don't want a country full of fat car drivers but additional taxation managed by an inept local authority is not the answer.

DeG