Madam, - Ian Noctor hit the nail on the head (Motors, April 23rd) when he noted that 86 per cent of Londoners use public transport. That's why congestion charges work there and won't work here, until commuters abandon the car in very large numbers. At present 80 per cent of Dubliners don't go by public transport.
Realistically, only a metro can provide the capacity to treble the numbers using public transport and wean us off going to work by car. While we argue about the price of the metro, the economic cost of traffic chaos is escalating daily. Of course, the metro must be built at the lowest achievable cost, but the sooner we start, the cheaper it will be.
London's visionary Victorians laid down an Underground which still serves well after more than a century. What will Dubliners say of our ditherings in the year 2103? - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL BOYLE,
Butterfield Drive,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 14.