Bronwen Currie
At no point in this item was one obvious alternative - cycling and walking - mentioned. When women realise that "active transport" is the way to get the body shape they want they may also realise the benefit of politicians tackling congestion and pollution by tackling car use. And no - I'm not a sporty 20-something, but a 50-something who hates sport but took up cycling at 40. And I'm very comfortable with my body shape!

Dianne standen
I was disappointed tohear Jenni express shock at the prospect of not using a car to carry home shopping.As with many other practical aspects of life it simply needs some thought, planning and on behalf of the stores innovation. Our local shop , the Co-op delivers shopping the same day at no cost. Personally I shop with a bike and load it into panniers.Its easily pushed home. Other people take trolleys.The point is not that we should stop using cars altogether but that we should be thoughtful and avoid using them on journeys that could be tackled on foot,bike or public transport. Although i have a license I don't own a car and run a business without using one.We owe it to then next generation to sort out our transport problems now rather than keep prevaricating on the issue. It will be a big issue for me when it comes to voting.

janet weight reed
Having lived in the States between 1966 and 1993, I am very aware of how damaging to community and general health, relying on cars can be, In 1993 when I returned to the UK, I made the decision not to drive again. This meant living in a community where I could walk and meet most of my daily needs. It has been 12 years since I have driven, and although I work, travel and have a busy social life, I am able to function very well without a car. Compared to the States our public transportation system is o.k., but it could definitely be a lot better. We are destroying our earth, - and we are becoming unhealthier and even though I fully understand the difficulties of transporting children to school, are we really doing them any favours by making them dependent upon the car! Let'smake traveling by public transportation the fashionable thing to do. Let's vote for politicians who walk the walk instead of just talking the talk!

Simon Parker
As a professional working to encourage a reduction in car use, I found your item on public transport very interesting. The central point I would like to make, is that people who own cars (and thats most of us) use their cars by simple default. People rarely make an informed choice between the bus, trains, taxis or even walking or cycling as opposed to their own car, because the attitude is - "...my car is there, so I'll use it" We try to encourage the growth of car clubs, as these organisations can break that dependance on the car. Once people take the leap of imagination and discard their own car in favour of joining a car club, then the car simply becomes one of the choices open to them. People can think about their needs for a particular journey, then make the most appropriate choice between walking, buses or trains or the car club vehicle. In effect, the car club becomes part of public transport. take a look at our website at www.carplus.org.uk

J Davies
I am going to vote for the party who promises to do most for global warming.

Holden
I listened with interest to your report on transport. Why is it the assumption is that we all are within easy reach of public transport or a railway station.Where I live we have neither and would need to find some way to travel to reach either,which defeats the object. I felt I needed to point this out because it annoys me when it seems people in our situation are not considered.

caroline
I live just outside the congestion charge zone and have a child at school within it. I used to go into it a couple of times a week now I probably only go in once every couple of months, if I really have to. I think it is priced correctly. Cheap enough to be affordable if I have to go in by car but expensive enough to put me of doing so. I cant help but be impressed but I would like to see arising from it a far better transport system in central london -roadworks alone are not good enough. The tube is appalling and not just at rush hour and buses are unreliable. We need a good carrot as well as a stick.

Melanie Walker
We left the south-east and moved to the south-west so no longer commute to London and in doing so have fulfilled what the government would like to see namely a move away from the congested regions. It has been the right move for us but the biggest disadvantage is the hugely expensive rail fare to London. It costs £115 day return from Taunton to Paddington (1hour 50minutes and a reasonably reliable service) which, with the advent of low cost airlines is often more than a flight to Europe. The Apex or cheap day returns are only available on a hit and miss basis and are not usually available at all on the trains that allow for a full day in London, only on later departing services. The pre booking system is totally random with tickets being released irregularly which necessitates a daily call, sometimes over several weeks, to see if a specific date has become available. Sometimes the one day that I have failed to call to check, the date I required has been released and sold out immediately – it is infuriating. The M5 from the south west is overcrowded and I would prefer to use the train rather than my car but the system encourages the use of the car as one has to have a strong constitution to actually book anything other than a £115 return ticket. Should the cost be less I, and many others, would use the train far more frequently.

A Battell
I can get to school or Work by Bus and Home again . But there are no reliable busses to go out to Cinema or visit friends! Public transport in semi rural areas is useless!

Mrs S J Wilson
People who cling to their cars are sad and wasting a lot of money. Their children would be a lot safer, long term, if they learned to cope with buses or walking to school. How many of the young drivers who crash their cars (fatally) have no road-sense because they have never been out of Mummy's car before getting their own?

jane
My husband is an oil man, a geologist who seeks oil on a daily basis. Currently working in Norway and Denmark, he cycles to work along SAFE cycle routes, and uses the efficient, integrated transport system when he needs to do so. Meanwhile, back in Scotland, I have to have a 4x4 to get trough snow and mud...I need a car that the local garage can fix easiliy when I'm on my own with my 3 kids, and that mean's a Landrover. However, I would not think of taking my 4x4 anywhere near the school...reversing it is too dangerous when children are around. We are lucky enough to have a school bus (which we pay for) but only as the roads are so dangerous that nobody can walk or cycle the one mile to school. I use a little car for local journeys most of the time. If we had clear, safe roads, cycle lanes that were separate frm traffic and pedestrians, and transport that would accept bikes, I would not need a 4x4.

Sara
Point 1 - It is far more expensive for my husband to travel by train to London than by car, including congestion charge. He would prefer to travel by train but the fairs go up too dramatically on a regular basis. We pay too much for train travel in this country. The continual round of indirect taxs are cripling us all and one reason my husband and I want to move abroad - In fact we are working towards this aim. Point 2 - My Daughter travels by bus to school and there is more trouble on the bus journeys than at any time during the school day - Children smoke, there are fights and the bus drivers do nothing! no wonder parents are fearful! I just hope my daughter is sensible. I would vote for a party that seriously addressed these issues without landing us with massive extra charges and without always making excuses about not improving public transport unless we pay more. WE PAY ENOUGH .

paula woodward
My other half and I finally learnt to drive last year and bought a car. We could put up with awful journeys using public transport and even managed for five years after our son was born. But eventually it just became unbearable: paying full price for a ticket but not getting a seat; grubby toilets with no nappy changing facilities; unannounced delays, but nowhere to buy food for our son (only places selling either "fancy" sarnies with hot pepper sauce or greasy burgers); having to drag all the luggage up and down stairs with a buggy. We often wished Mr Porter would appear so we could pay him to help us! We finally cracked when we decided to have another baby. We are still committed bus and train users in London, but it does become harder to carry on now we have a car. In our experience, public transport still seems to be more about moving trains and buses from A to B rather than about getting people to where they want to go!

Sue Smyllie
I live 2 miles from my childrens' primary school and the cost of taking a bus for 1 adult and 4 children to school 2x a day is not economical when the car is already paid in terms or road tax and petrol. The time it would take out of a day to do these journeys would prohibit gettin a job to fit in with these hours. A school bus would be of value as long as the cost is subsidised and safety issues addressed. A tram system would also be preferable to reduce traffic congestion, again if cost effective for users. I would certainly leave my car at home if transport was reliable, cost effective and safe. Many times my oldest child has been made to pay full fare on a bus even though she holds a current bus pass entitling her to half fares - how can we send our children on public transport if we cannot rely on their conduct?

Mark Shorey
I listened with interest to the two points of view about car use from the guests on your program and the report from the car driving women as she delivered her children to school in her 4 wheel drive vehicle. I speak from the point of view of a family man with a wife and two children who gave up using a car in 1992. My wife and I use buses, trains and bicycles to shop, take the children to school and go to work. I would certainly be more inclined to vote for a political party that promised to improve public tranport but I am aware that in every case people make a choice about how they live. For someone who lives in the country where there are no shops nearby a car is essential as there is no other means of transport. In the last 13 years we have lived in 4 different places around London but each time we have moved we have chosen to live where public transport is easily available instead of somewhere a car would be required. By doing this we give up some of the advantages of country life, take on some of the risks of city life and take on some of the convenience of living near shops, buses and shopping centres. If we can't get somewhere by public transport then we don't go unless we can get a lift from some obliging car driver. So you see even though we do not own a car we still cannot do without one at times. The most difficult part of living without a car was the weekly shop. Spending Saturday with two small children in tow taking a bus to the supermarket and coming back with huge bags of shopping, as well as two grumpy children and a pushchair would try everyones patience. However in the last 10 years our salvation has been internet shopping... All the supermarkets, indeed off-licences, fishmongers and vegetable suppliers now deliver and we can go months without needing to actually go to a supermarket. I realise that this is not a solution for everyone, but certainly everyone could cut down on their car miles by changing some of the things that they do without thinking. Now my biggest transport problem is getting my youngest daughter to school on our tandem without being hit by some lady in a four wheel drive car as she hurries to deliver her children before the bell rings.

Suzanne Aspden
The women who care so much for their kids that they drive them to school in monstrous vehicles evidently haven't thought hard enough to realise that they're destroying those children's futures. The mass starvation, mass migration, mass destruction of the environment that *will* be visited upon all of us (and not just "poor people" in distant countries) is *directly* attributable to our actions today. Won't happen in Britain? You bet it will, as massive areas of the country are flooded, and much of southern Britain turns to near-desert, our children and grandchildren will reap what we have sown. It may seem extreme, but ultimately parents who drive gas guzzlers don't care about their kids. The phrase "Think globally, act locally" should be a watch word for all of us.

Jackie Saunders
Yes, transport issues will get my vote. I have a car (4x4) and live in a rural town where public transport has been reduced since I moved here 15 years ago. I would like to use trains more often but the Alton to Waterloo service is slow, unreliable and I have personally experienced security issues using the services. As a result of this I rarely use the trains myself and discourage my teenage children from using them for fear of them being stranded late at night. I have used public transport in Germany & Holland and it is a pleasure because it is reliable, clean and efficient and well policed. Can't understand why we can't have it here.

Chris Critchley
I cycle to work. Despite my best efforts to avoid the traffic, I have been knocked off, pulled out on, forced to give up my right of way and generally afforded pariah status, all in my efforts to reduce congestion, keep fit and save the planet. Inhabitants of cars, note, I cannot use the word drivers - there are precious few of those, bring all of their personal characteristics onto the streets with them, including many undesirable ones, such as, artlessness, selfishness and ignorance. Is now, not the time to get our flabby and isolated children to properly interact with their surroundings and leave their chauffeurs to attempt to do something more productive?

Judy Marsh
Nottingham public transport is excellent. Clean comfortable buses, plenty of them, that go just about everywhere, at all times. I use them all the time rather than the car. Then there is the tram too. A blueprint for any city wanting the best.

Shelly
The woman being interviewed who said that drivers 'pay at the pump' - forgets that the rest of us who dont have cars have to pay too. Her car helps pollute the air we have to breathe while waiting at bus stops, & contributes to asthma & traffic jams. It was probably her who said we'll never get the transport system we need! Not if narrow minded,complacent, middle class women like her have anything to do with it. Why do the women you interview only represent those people who have a choice? What about the masses of women who don't have access to cars & HAVE to use public transport? If we want a better transport system we have to fight for it!! In Bristol the system is terrible & so expensive & could easily be improved - by infusing some money into it, which could be obtained by using Ken Livingstones scheme implemented in London & would probably benefit other cities too. Please try & get a more balanced view in your interviews - it's frustrating listening to women like that - with no voice given to the other side. WE DON'T ALL HAVE A CHOICE!!

Helen Edmond
yet again the 4x4 car is attacked; yet the positive aspects neglected by the commentators in the studio. I own a Volvo with 7 seats. I have three children of school age, two walk to local schools and one who uses the school bus. My 4x4 is used for after school activities where I often give lifts to 2 other children. In addition my parents are able to accompany us on outings. In both cases the extra seats mean one car is needed instead of two for the same journey. Surely this has some environmental benefit which I rarely hear mentioned. In addition one of the interviewees mentioned the danger of being hit by a 4x4 causing greater injury. Greater visibility is gained in the higher position one has in these cars which could be argued helps the prevention of such accidents occuring. Do these vehicles make up a higher proportion of deaths and injuries on the road?

Tessa Meijer
This is slightly off-topic, I know. However I am totally fed up with issues such as this being discussed in terms of 'women's issues', when the bias of the report is actually on mothers. For the sanity of all of us infertile and involuntarily childless women could we please, please start to make a clear distinction between 'women' and 'mothers'. In fact, how about making this a topic for Woman's Hour? Not a focus on infertility and its causes etc, but what it is to be a woman in society who has not actually chosen to be childless. There are so many issues, not least the hurt and frustration caused by referring to 'women' when it is just 'mothers' issues that are being addressed.

Barbara Potter
A year ago I moved from a small village, 18 miles north of Aberdeen to central Glasgow. I sold my car 6 months after moving here as I found that it was costing me more than it would cost to hire a car for the few days that I used it, now that I had such ready access to shops and services by foot, bike and public transport. In Aberdeenshire the bus service was more limited and not well used, so it was supported by the council. My student son enjoys the ease with which he can now get about with such good access to public transport.

Dot Welby
I think the example you gave was not typical. I live near a primary/infant school and all the roads around are blocked by cars, people are selfish, I think most people could walk, if this is not possible, then school buses should be available to take children to points very near their homes, so they do not have to cross major roads, or walk a long way, (as they do in other countries) this should be either free or much cheaper than normal fares, also people should be encouraged to use schools near to there homes, as in the past. Public transport should be, cheaper, and safer,and more frequent, bring back Bus Conductors, who can control any trouble, and look after people who need it, children, disabled, Older people. Travelling on any buses with uncontrolled children is a nightmare, you hear language, and see behaviour not acceptable.Also trains should have more visible security.