I have no faith in a Rapid Transport System (RTS) based on buses - or trams for that matter.

Unlike Crawley, the roads in central Brighton are narrow and are already choked with traffic.

Imagine a bendy-bus trying to park in the already heavily-used bus area at the station.

Imagine an RTS bus trying to get through the Aquarium roundabout on a busy Sunday in summer. Imagine an empty RTS bus trying to seek passengers along the seafront to the Marina on a wet and windy November day.

If the solution is to move cars off the roads totally people will go elsewhere and the local economy will crash.

The only long-term solution is to go underground, well underground, to avoid disturbing the under-road services.

Imagine a loop underground line with trains going, say, clockwise. You could board and leave the train at any station, fixed fare.

You might start at a point within the main station concourse. Along the way you could leave at West Street for Churchill Square and the Brighton Centre, Brunswick Square for Old Market, Hove Town Hall for George Street shopping and then the King Alfred for new development and leisure complex.

The line would then go northwards to Hangleton Grenadiers, continuing to bring in Withdean, Patcham and park and ride, Hollingbury, Lewes Road for universities and the new football stadium, Brighton Race course and down to the Marina and the Brighton International Arena and hospitals, Palace Pier and back to West Street and Brighton Station.

Because there is no road congestion to cope with, trains would run to time, allowing passengers to know their regular journey times.

Yes, it would involve heavy capital expenditure but chalk is relatively easy to tunnel through and, if you use the system already running efficiently in Lille in France, staffing costs would be low because the trains do not need drivers.

Such a project would take the city into the next century.

Can that be said of the scheme now under discussion?

-Bob Gunnell, Brighton