Letter: Hidden cost of goods that travel too far

Sir: Experience in Washington and other US cities has shown that strong incentives for the formation of "car pools" have proved acceptable in a car-owning democracy. By reserving many of its parking spaces for car pools a Boston firm has induced 39 per cent of its employees to adopt ride-sharing. Highway authorities have provided an incentive by reserving lanes on radial motorways for high-occupancy vehicles (HOVs).

Despite misgivings on the part of government policy-makers, an HOV lane is soon to be introduced in Leeds. The situation has become so urgent that there is a case for reserving HOV lanes on all the main radials that feed the most congested part of M25: M40, M4, M3 and A3. This would relieve peak-hour pressure on M25, where many car trips are transferring from one of these radials to another.

NIGEL SEYMER

Slaughter, Gloucestershire