Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

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Harrogate's potholes worse than Cairo

Might I suggest that North Yorkshire County Council either furthers its skills in excavation or takes classes in road repairs.

I return from Cairo, Egypt regularly to visit my home town and many of the roads are a disgrace. St Mark's Avenue, to name but one. I dare say many are in far worse states than the roads here in Egypt, and ours are bad.

I have watched St Mark's Ave become like a major dig for some Harrogate archaeological treasure.

Please direct money, repairing many of the roads, to keep cars from becoming premature jalopies and saving the elderly from accidents who will then need emergency repairs, while crossing treacherous roads.

Harrogate should be beautiful and well kept, everywhere.

Janice Walker, Heliopolis, Cairo

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Harrogate needs flexible travel choices

I write this as someone who visits old friends in Harrogate regularly, with a flexible approach to travel choices, since I might 'step off a train' at Skipton, Kirkstall Forge, York or Leeds, and then get a bus, train or cycle (there's a neat connection option Headingly-Kirkstall Forge this way - less good uphill though).

So to hear the rumblings about loss of late and early trains with Northern makes me wish that there was scope for a formal deal with the 36 and Transdev's Harrogate Buses. As a more flexible traveller, I've done this mix & match a few times, when an event in Leeds ended in the evening 'hole' in the train service, or after the last train.

So Alex, (boss at Starbeck) how might the deal work, no handy train, eg with a through ticket for an early Leeds-London service or similar, then show your rail ticket and pay £1 to use the 36? Some might even switch for more trips?

Of course the deal might work even better with a public bike hire scheme in Leeds and Harrogate - less than five minutes on a bike gets you from Leeds Bus Station to Leeds City Rail Station, and two-wheels in Harrogate on a bad day is practically immune to traffic jams, or allows me to cut over from Bilton to Starbeck with the 'short cut' to catch a train for York (and its cheaper too with fares pricing).

From a bike you'd be shocked at what you'll see drivers doing as you ride past - I saw an estate agent doing paperwork on a clip board balanced on the steering wheel as she slowly drove along in the queue and mobile phone use is as bad as it ever was, despite the more severe penalties

So instead of Northern also having the expense of running a separate bus (or several?) for those trains, work with the local bus service, and perhaps an eight-seater to deal with stations just too far away from the bus route (perhaps Pannal-Headingley?) and the smaller number of passengers for those connections?

I last owned a car 46 years ago, but for nearly five years have been able to drive a near-new electric car whenever I need to, but in that time my total spending on 'motoring' has been less than £200, and the wide choice of other options isn't coloured by that ton or two of 4-wheeled indulgence that I'm paying for 24/7, but the surveys show sits idle for over 22 hours in every 24, easily costing £12-£20 per day in finance, insurance, servicing, depreciation.

Many poorer households have worked out that it’s cheaper to get a taxi to get home with their weekly shopping, and use buses (less than £2 per day unlimited travel with a bus pass) where they have worked out exactly how to get around with. Its an even better deal once you're old enough for a bus pass, and drive a lot less.

Dave Holladay, Glasgow

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