WHILE Nicola Sturgeon campaigns for more funding for NHS Scotland it is time to look also at one source of funding which could be raised within Scotland but which the the SNP Government threw away by abolishing parking charges at hospitals. This was a successful vote-catching promise at the time but it has resulted in chaos at hospital car parks.

Last week I drove my wife to an outpatient appointment at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, arriving 20 minutes before the appointment time, which I thought would allow me ample time to park and join her in the waiting room.

How naive can you get? To cut a long story short, after exploring other car parks I was crawling up the ramp at Car Park 1 when my phone rang for the first of five calls. When I managed to get off the ramp into a (fully occupied) parking floor and stop the car my wife had already been waiting for 10 minutes after completing her tests. Getting back down the ramp and back to our agreed meeting point added another 10-15 minutes. I had been sitting in a crawling car for about an hour in total.

Introducing a reasonable charge would not only raise revenue for the NHS but would encourage many drivers to switch to public transport (and perhaps also encourage bus companies to improve services) and would give remaining drivers a chance to find a space in a reaasonable time.

I also wonder if the Scottish Government, now apparently committed to a Green New Deal, has calculated the effect of the this grumpy-go-round of frustrated drivers on climate change and local air quality.

John McMaster, Glasgow G32.

ANDREW McKie says cheaper rail fares would be a subsidy from poor to rich ("Cheaper rail fares? It’s the poor subsidising the rich", The Herald, December 4). This view is misdirected. In Scotland, with improved rail services and fares lower than in London, rail use – not least around Glasgow – has seen not only record rises since 2000 but a widening section of the public using rail more frequently but with this use still hampered by poor bus/rail integration of both fares and services.

Rail support includes specification of high standards for evening services and expansion of Saturday and Sunday services. Bus use, measured in passenger miles, is now less than rail use despite substantial Scottish Government support for free bus travel throughout Scotland for those of pension age or disabled. Local government does give some support to slow down erosion of the bus network and aid bus movement in congested cities but this support has been falling due to severe pressures on local government finance. Evening services have seen large cuts in addition to some services totally withdrawn.

Fairer and well integrated rail and bus services need a high profile in the current reviews of Scottish Government strategy for sustainable and inclusive transport and access. These reviews are scheduled to be completed in 2021. They need to include early action (going much further than the newly approved Transport Act) to speed up enhanced networks and effective integration of bus and rail services and fares, especially in each of the main regions within Scotland. Action should also include a review of RET ferry tariffs which, at present, encourage shifts to car use rather than improved bus and rail connections and better facilities for both walkers and cyclists. In difficult financial times, a possible casualty could be the loss of free bus travel for pensioners throughout Scotland balanced by rises in more localised rail and bus use within each main region – including lower fares and shifts from car use for those both above and below state pension age.

Tom Hart, Beith.