Perils of travel: coaches
Sir: I have journeyed many miles this year on express coaches and on British Rail. No doubt coaches like those described by Mr Dalgleish (Letters, 24 August) with 'air conditioning, toilets, refreshments and a hostess' exist somewhere but they are not to be found on any of the routes I have used. People grumble if trains are only a few minutes late, but travelling by coach it is not uncommon to be an hour late.
If the coach is using ordinary roads there will be many long and weary waits in traffic queues at roundabouts and junctions: if it is on a motorway then one is involved in total anarchy. There seems to be no such thing as lane discipline, and cars and juggernauts jockey for position with total disregard for the safety of passengers. Compared to coach travel British Rail is a miracle of safety and efficiency.
Moreover there is a flaw in Mr Dal- gleish's reasoning. He states that the railways are uneconomic and castigates `those operating them', and yet on buses he accepts the employment of hostesses who must surely be as 'uneconomic' as the much maligned railway guards are alleged to be.
Phil Short
17 Churchfield Road, Outwell, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.
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