Dear Sir,

I am enclosing a copy of a letter that you kindly published 15 years ago, January 28, 2005.

I was wondering if you would publish it again to prove that time passes by and nothing really seems to change.

Sir – Your correspondent Ed Lehmann (January 14) asserts that 'the one behaviour that most inhibits people from trying cycling is fear of cars'. That may well be true where is lives in the Oxfordshire countryside, but in the city it is buses which most inhibit people from cycling. Because of their width, buses take up more road space and squeeze cyclists into poorly-maintained road edges.

A perfect example is the road coming into Oxford over Magdalen Bridge, a route used by hundreds of cyclists and hundreds of busts daily. Approaching the traffic lights, the road narrows and, therefore, the cycle lane disappears! (This is a cycle-friendly city?)

The cyclist is forced by the impatient bus bearing down into a kerb littered with drains that rise above or sink below the road surface. It's a battlefield out there and only the confident and courageous continue.

Those who don't, ironically, are reduced to taking the bus – a situation which must bring great satisfaction to the bus companies and the councillors and council officials who sponsor the,.

David Leake

Oxford