I too am angry about the fare rise on local bus services (“Anger at Fare Rise” November 5) and for the No 1 service in particular.

Almost one quarter of the households of Portland have no access to car or van. [1] They rely on the No 1 bus service.

Owning no car means producing no car exhaust fumes, so no contribution to air pollution or greenhouse gas emissions; no road congestion either.

This is exactly what we need to keep our children free from respiratory disease and possibly reduced IQ. [2] It is exactly what we need to keep global temperature rise below 1.5C.

[3] Their reward? Poorer services and higher fares!

Contrast their plight with petrol or diesel car owners who have received tax breaks on car fuel duty, whilst continuing to produce dangerous exhaust emissions.

Twenty-five years ago the then Chancellor Norman Lamont introduced a three per cent a year fuel tax escalator, because he anticipated that transport would be the sector expected to contribute most to the UK carbon dioxide emissions. [4] He was right! [5]

Subsequent governments of all political colours have all frozen fuel tax rises at times, with the result that carbon dioxide emissions from transport are now higher than in 1993.

The 2018 Budget continued the trend; there will have been no rise in fuel tax for the nine years to March 2020.

The government under the cloak of “austerity” continues to deny proper funding to local councils with the result that bus subsidies are largely a thing of the past.

This is an equity issue, with the (generally) better off car owners NOT being financially penalised for generating greenhouse gas emissions, whilst the (generally) worse off are financially penalised through higher bus fares.

The new Dorset Council must overturn previous decisions to remove bus subsidies.

Non car owners deserve the best affordable, frequent and efficient bus service possible, a service attractive enough to encourage car owners to leave their cars with their harmful exhausts at home.

1 UK Census 2011; 24.6 per cent of Portland households

2 Guardian and elsewhere August 27, 2018

3 IPCC Report October 2018

4 Hansard 16th March 1993 c177, 182, 183

5 UK Govt BEIS 2016 UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions, February 6, 2018

DR GRAHAM LAMBERT

Hillside, Gypsy Lane,

Weymouth