AS very much a lay follower of the topic of low emission zones (“Diesel car owners face fines for driving in cities within two years”, The Herald, September 7), I see a lot of proposals but don't detect much joined-up thinking.
It seems to me that before we get to the ban dates for polluting vehicles in towns and cities investment is needed to provide usable public transport that people will be happy to use. So if Edinburgh wants to go down the tram route, why can't Glasgow, Dundee Aberdeen get trolley buses?
To make car drivers (who are not excluded from driving in cities) use new public transport, do we need to create landscaped large car park transport interchanges at outer locations near trunk route access points? Car park charges should include the fare on the public transport.
And what about continuing rail expansion and electrification in that order? There are lots of locations desperate for a rail link, from Levenmouth and other routes in Fife, to continuing with the Borders route onward to Carlisle and not forgetting the link that is the Crossrail in Glasgow.
“Old” Intercity 125 train sets are being introduced in refurbished form in Scotland, but they still produce lots of diesel exhaust and stations like Waverley and Glasgow Queen Street are below street level and these pollutants find their way to these location.
The new Glasgow /Edinburgh electric trains will help in this respect.
And now that the last big infrastructure project has been opened to road traffic, excepting the A9 improvements and the new hybrid ferries currently under construction at Port Glasgow, there must be some new thinking to look at all of Scotland's needs and invest accordingly.
Ian Gray
Low Cottage, Croftamie.
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