I and my hard-working colleagues take exception to Mrs Fell's comments about public transport in Swindon.

Of course London is different to Swindon and not just because of its size.

It is much more difficult to use a car in London, hence public transport is always going to be more comprehensive.

Sure, the system in Swindon is not perfect. It would be great to have more evening and Sunday bus services and to have free travel rather than half-fare for senior citizens and children.

However, such benefits cost money and would have to be paid for out of increased council tax. That, at the end of the day, is a political decision.

What is not right is Mrs Fell's attack on the bus service.

Despite today's traffic conditions, this company runs more than 99.9 per cent of its schedules, and recent figures show 93 per cent of journeys meet the Government's on-time target.

More than six per cent more journeys were made in 2003/04 than the previous year. The Park-and-Ride services (use of which continues to grow rapidly) are not the most frequent bus services.

Most of the core network routes run at 10-minute intervals and many roads have more buses than that.

The hospital services are not mostly imaginary.

As well as direct links to many areas of town, hospital visitors have the benefit of Hospital Express, a non-stop link to/from town in 10 minutes every 10 minutes weekdays during the daytime.

Use of this service is growing at more than 10 per cent year-on-year.

We may not be perfect but in my view this is hardly the performance of a second or third rate bus service, that Mrs Fell thinks Swindon has.

J Owen

Managing Director

Thamesdown Transport