Sir – Councillor Keith Mitchell (Letters, August 4) seems unaware of the irony in his remarks about the application of ‘simple bus and economic science’ to achieve the recent coordination of services and ticketing on Oxford’s buses.

As your previous correspondent Robin Gill pointed out (July 28) it was the deregulation introduced by councillor Mitchell’s party when in government which outlawed such common sense in the first place and only the amendments introduced by the last Labour Government which have made the current initiative possible.

It is testimony to the inefficiency of the previous arrangements that almost everybody involved now stands to benefit. However, although presented fairly as a win-win situation overall it is misleading not to acknowledge that there will be some ‘losers’ as part of the deal and that even the ‘gains’ are not necessarily distributed evenly.

People travelling at less busy times are likely to notice longer waits, as will passengers more generally in the unfortunately common situation when individual buses are delayed or cancelled.

Most serious though are the implications for fares (Letters, August 4). How exactly are the savings of 25 per cent or so in operating costs being distributed — between bus companies and passengers and between different groups of passengers? The longer period tickets for the new Smartzone offer excellent value for regular travellers, but these do not fit the circumstances of infrequent, shorter-distance or poorer passengers who pay for individual journeys much more heavily by cash. There deserves to be greater transparency and public debate on both the level and structure of fares. If the bus companies are effectively being granted monopoly status without formal regulation then the county council should pursue this as an automatic quid pro quo.

Peter Headicar, Oxford