PUBLIC transport is very much in the news in Huddersfield at the moment - largely due to the continuing controversy over the use of bus lanes on the Wakefield and Lockwood roads.
Driver resentment at these schemes which make life easier for the bus drivers and correspondingly harder for them might seem to rule out any return to the era of trams and trolleybuses with their restricting rails and wires.
And yet, brand new schemes are being tried elsewhere with apparent success.
Reader David J Smithies has just returned from visits to Caen in France and to Nottingham with interesting slants on the possible shape of transport things to come.
It was a painting by Denby Dale artist Robert Nixon which appeared in the Examiner on February 4 this year which started him thinking.
David, a transport enthusiast, had taken a picture of the same bus, ECX 190, in 1964.
By complete contrast there's the beautiful brand new guided trolleybuses which are running now at Caen in France.
David says that these high-tech trolleybuses - which could be mistaken for modern trams - are "light years" ahead of the Huddersfield trolleys.
They come with an auxiliary engine which enables them to operate away from power lines and move round obstructions.
Says David: "To be fair our newest trolleybuses came in autumn 1959 - 43 years before Caen's examples."
On the other hand, he observes: "The Caen guideway system is far less obtrusive than the much-vaunted guideway in Manchester Road, Bradford."
More recently still, on March 9, David stopped off in Nottingham and found that the city's new tram system had opened for passengers that morning.
Naturally, David had to give the £200m nine-mile Nottingham Express Transit a try.
One of the fleet of 15 trams, No 221, is seen here at the Old Market Square.
It is interesting to note that the tram service is run in conjunction with a park and ride scheme (with more than 3,000 spaces) which offers free parking to all tram customers.
