ANYTHING relating to transport is a contentious issue in the Bolton borough.

While problems with buses and trains manage to fill the columns of this newspaper on a regular basis, mention the words parking, bus lanes and wardens and the reaction is equally predictable.

Bolton Council should, therefore, be in for an interesting collection of replies when it receives a consultation exercise, run on May 15.

Local drivers using town centre car parks will be asked to fill in

pre-paid postcards giving details of their journeys. The idea is to create a bank of traffic information and driver movements, along with existing traffic flow, to aid future planning for highways and transport.

It's a pretty safe bet that many drivers will take this opportunity to lambast the Council over the problems which, according the the BEN's letters' pages alone, have incensed them over the past year or two.

Driving today is already a stressful business, with crowded roads and the inevitable roadworks springing up just when we're all short of both time and temper.

The consultation exercise is a good idea, but we hope that it is simply not just an exercise.

When members of the public are asked their opinion by officialdom, they expect it to lead to something positive. The Council can and does listen and react to various transport ideas -- witness the return of the town centre rickshaws by public demand.

We urge everyone who is asked to react to the questionnnaire to do so. It will be an important channel of relevant information.

And we trust that the Council will note their comments and, wherever possible, act on them to help drive Bolton's transport and roads' system efficiently into the future.