Mr T Davies, (Letters, November 28) challenges me to say why the motorist should pay to improve public transport. There are several good arguments.

To begin with, highway congestion occurs when more cars than the system can accommodate try to use the highway network.

The consequences — slower journey times, increased noise and fume pollution — are borne not by the motorist alone, but by all who travel by road, including bus passengers, and anyone who lives near a main road.

We know from experience that if we improve public transport a proportion of motorists will transfer to public transport, thus reducing the congestion and improving, in particular, the journey time for those people who have no option but to go on using their cars to get to work.

But improving public transport costs money. The alternative to making the motorist pay would be to finance the improvements out of general government revenues.

That would mean that taxpayers like me, who do not clutter up the highway network during the busiest times, would be subsidising your correspondent’s journey to work.

The reason why the motorist alone should pay is because it is the choices of individual motorists which cause congestion. End of story. QED, Peter Johnston Kendal Road Bolton