Chris Todd's assessment of park and ride (The Argus, July 1) was an interesting diatribe against an idea whose time has surely come, especially for our city which has made great strides in public transport provision but which continues to struggle with the eight million visitors a year (and their cash) that support a vast chunk of our economy.

If it is truly "a curse", as he suggests, it is interesting that a whole raft of comparable cities, such as Oxford, Cambridge, York and Bristol that measure their park and ride spaces by the thousand, are embracing this "curse" with a fervour that suggests they know something we don't. Oxford has nearly 5,000 park and ride spaces. We have 250.

Chris bemoans the lack of people with the vision to come up with alternative such as improved rail services but conveniently forgets the rail network is a law unto itself and beyond the influence of local (or it seems national) politicians. Witness the fiasco over the London-to-Brighton bike ride when the train franchise declined to accommodate the needs of thousands of its passengers.

The Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership has established a dialogue with Southern (previously South Central) around a number of issues but we don't pretend this form of travel will be the entire solution to our access problems.

We need to offer as many options as possible to entice people out of cars and reduce city centre congestion.

The abstraction from local bus services that Chris fears would undoubtedly happen if the facility was sited close to local bus routes. It is telling that one of the greatest supporters of park and ride is the local bus company. If they aren't afraid of abstraction, why is Chris?

There are clear criteria for a successful park and ride and we have to ensure we find a site that fulfills those criteria and if that is 100 yards north of the A27 bypass, we have to bite the bullet and accept it for the future prosperity of the city and indeed the national park itself.

At least two other national parks are considering the benefits of park and ride compared to thousands of car-borne visitors doing greater damage to the environment than any car park ever could.

A park and ride on the outskirts of Brighton and Hove could result in 700,000 fewer vehicle movements in the city centre per annum for every 1,000 spaces and bring an extra £1.7m into the economy.

Chris hints that a reduction in car parking spaces in the city centre might make park and ride more palatable but the very reduction he craves has already happened. Hundreds of spaces have been lost over recent years due to pedestrianisation, traffic enhancement and major developments like the new library site.

We have already paid the price in reduced parking - it would be nice to see the return.

Tony Mernagh

-Executive Director, Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership