I WRITE in response to Anthony Boddy's letter "Waste of cash on names for bus stops" (Bolton Evening News, February 1), which questions Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority's recent decision to fund a £350,000 scheme to name and display the direction of travel on every bus stop plate in Greater Manchester.

While GMPTE does not run any public transport services, we do own all bus stops and bus stations in Greater Manchester and we have a duty to maintain these and ensure that the passenger information at these locations is as comprehensive and helpful as possible. We also have a duty to spend the public funds allocated to us wisely and we take this very seriously.

The article Mr Boddy has read in the Bolton Evening News does not go into the fine detail of the necessity for the bus stop naming programme -- so I will explain further. The public transport Journey Planner on GMPTE's website has recently been upgraded, so that people can plan their journeys quite specifically from address to address -- so the precise location and name of the right stop needs to be identified. We believe this is a worthwhile project, as we know from experience that people will use public transport more if they can be confident in planning their journey. Our view is backed by the Department for Transport requirement to carry out this work so that a national internet journey planning facility can be created. As readers will appreciate, it is important that all timetables consistently and uniformly identify the location of individual boarding points, in order to avoid confusion.

In addition, a Real Time Information system is shortly to be installed on several Quality Bus Corridors throughout the county, so bus stops will need to be allocated a name in order for them to be displayed as the "next stop" on board the bus as it approaches.

Many of the 12,500 bus stops throughout Greater Manchester will be modified as they are renewed as part of the programme for the creation of Quality Bus Corridors, while others will be upgraded as part of ongoing repair and replacement. However, the funding approved by the Passenger Transport Authority will enable this work to be completed comprehensively throughout the county within a timescale of five years, or less. Without this, certain stops would remain unaltered over a considerably longer period, frustrating our aim to ensure comprehensive and co-ordinated information across the bus network.

Mr Boddy's suggestion that we enlist the support of primary schools to carry out the work for us is an interesting one. Unfortunately, GMPTE is not in the habit of exploiting unpaid labour, we have to pay our staff to undertake the work, and all the associated costs in printing materials and travel -- not to mention the safety issues involved working on a ladder adjacent to a busy main road. In terms of the benefits to local bus passengers we have consulted with, we believe the sums of money involved are entirely justifiable.

Michael Renshaw

Projects and Infrastructure Executive

GMPTE, Portland Street

Manchester