I BELIEVE it is right for us to use public transport as much as possible.

However, it will be a long time before HS2 becomes a reality and the cost of a ticket for rail travel is already becoming prohibitive.

So much so, in fact, that it is not much more expensive to order a taxi to pick you up from home.

If fares continue to rise at an exponential rate, taxi firms could make a fortune from those who have to go to London on business.

I will not live long enough to take advantage of the proposed scheme but there will be advantages if more traffic is coaxed from the roads.

I am attracted to the general idea of high-speed rail but the economic outlook is so uncertain I am sceptical about it coming to fruition.

We need the stimulus of massive investment now to kickstart the economic activity so absent.

G Bulmer, Billingham