I NOTE that the Government now proposes that all diesel and petrol-fuelled cars are to be scrapped (“Experts warn petrol and diesel car ban to cost trillions”, The Herald, July 27) in an effort go all-electric and thus clean up the planet (or at least our bit of it). Far be it from me to be sceptical, but I would have thought that an obvious way of identifying how bad air quality is would be to observe the reduction in numbers of small flying insects and the like. Presumably, they would be the first to be affected by poor air quality.
With this in mind can anyone at the forefront of the clean air/polluted air argument explain just exactly why there are still millions, trillions, zillions of midges apparently thriving in our fine Scottish air?
John S Milligan,
86 Irvine Road, Kilmarnock.
I HAVE nothing against electric cars. I now live in a wee cottage in Argyll and can easily run a cable to my car parked outside my house. Imagine the streets of Hyndland and Shawlands with cables from every apartment window to their owners’ cars, wherever they can find a parking place.
Tony Graham,
Fionallt, Loch Awe, Argyll.
THERE is much currently in the media about air pollution and Glasgow city centre does not perform well. Not surprising when one can stand outside Central Station and count about 30 buses all producing diesel fumes.
When I was a boy Glasgow had one of the largest tramway systems in Europe. Despite gross underinvestment due to two world wars, the depression and so on, it was able to keep vehicles almost 70 years old running. It created new and very comfortable ones, such as the Coronation and Cunarder. My memory is of tracks being extended for half a mile or so in about a month with relatively little disruption.
Modern trams can be quiet, comfortable and fast and can move large numbers. They are clean and non-polluting.
There is no doubt that tram tracks do not integrate well with other traffic. Thus, dedicated streets or tracks are ideal. Glasgow’s Victorian legacy of railway tunnels and bridges – like the old St Enoch bridge - might be suitable. Standard railway rails would be cheaper.
The debacle in Edinburgh has affected the word “tram”. Thus, perhaps a new term is needed. Hopefully, not streetcar but perhaps light railway. However, I suspect the Glaswegians would call them trams.
John Thomson,
Rowan Road, Glasgow.
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