There are some good ideas in the proposals put forward by Metro, West Yorkshire's Passenger Transport Executive, for long-term improvements to the district's transport network. It is important that plans are laid for longer than the five years envisaged in the second Local Transport Plan. It's to be hoped that Metro's 20-year vision achieves its aim of persuading the Government to bridge the region's estimated £200 million transport funding gap.

Few surely would argue with the plan's call for more carriages on trains, more new stations and more comfortable, frequent and reliable buses on busy routes in and out of Bradford.

There is no doubt that public transport needs improving. It is vital if people are to be tempted out of their cars. In particular, both trains and buses need to be of far better quality and reliability and offer far greater standards of comfort.

But it is disappointing that the plan contains barely a mention of cars. Anyone who thinks the Aire Valley log-jam will be cleared or the pressure even eased without radical measures to improve the flow of traffic is kidding themselves.

The Aire Valley is a giant bottleneck. The transportation to work, school and leisure of people who currently live in it and beyond it, combined with plans for increased house-building along its length, mean the problem can only get much worse.

It's time the Government, local authority, transport groups and the rest stopped fiddling around the edges and looked at improvements not just to the transport network but specifically at the roads system.