MICHAEL MOORE is spot on regarding the Government’s call for innovation for everyone else but them (CN, Trams, the white elephant in the room”, October 8).

Electric trams go back to the early 1890s when Melbourne and Sydney were twice as dense as they are now and when you either had to walk or use a horse.

The streets must have been disgusting, at least car pollution doesn’t stick to your boots! It was so bad that Melbourne around 1900 would have had to remove about 500 tons of horse manure per day (along with the odd dead horse). Trams carried you along above the noxious streets, people thought trams were wonderful, very cutting edge technology at the time.

It was the manure problem that led to the take up of trams. At its peak there were 25 tram networks in Australia, all but two were superseded by faster and more convenient transport – cars and buses. We no longer have a horse manure problem so why adopt a solution designed to eliminate horse manure?

The current debate reminds me of an episode of “Yes, Minister” where Sir Humphrey was telling Bernard how to get the minister to accept the department’s option. Give the minister two options, one of which is unacceptable and he will always choose the other. Do not admit that there are more than two options, that is the key.

As in the article, overhead rapid transit systems avoid the problem of intersections, they overfly them, they are far cheaper than trams, avoid cutting down the trees along Northbourne and avoid the enormous expense of reinforcing or replacing the myriad services located in that median strip.

For short journeys autonomous cars will soon be available.

In the interim, more express buses will provide shorter commute times for far less cost than trams.

Arthur Davies, via email

Ill-mannered, ignorant cyclists

IN response to Sonya Fladun’s excellent column (“The ugly face of careless cycling”, CN October 15), I am a motorist, a cyclist, a pedestrian, and never have I met a more selfish, ill-mannered, arrogant, ignorant and just plain nasty group of people as I have in Canberra’s cyclists, even other cyclists are not safe from them. They deserve every criticism that comes their way.

Their attitude reminds me of an old joke. One day a cyclist from Melbourne died and went to heaven. He was met by St Peter, who agreed to show the cyclist around. “You’ll love it here. We have lots of cyclists. Over here we have the Melbourne cyclists, grouped by coffee style preference, and over there we have the Adelaide cyclists, the Brisbane cyclists are just over there, Sydney cyclists are here too, somewhere, and on it went until eventually they came to a brick wall. “What’s the wall for?” asked our cyclist. “That’s where we keep the cyclists from Canberra” said St Peter. Our cyclist was perplexed. “Why”? he asked. “Well” said St Peter, “Because they like to think they are the only ones here.”

Trevor Melksham, Kingston

Light the Night says thank you

I WOULD like to thank those who held a lantern and gave generously at the Canberra Light the Night, on Friday, October 9.

Thanks to the incredible 1200 community members who participated by walking or donating, we have currently raised $36,500 and are on our way to reaching the goal of $1.5 million.

The Leukaemia Foundation is dedicated to the Mission to Care and Vision to Cure the 60,000 Australians currently living with leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma and related blood disorders.

The funds will help provide those diagnosed and their families with practical support and also be invested in the country’s leading research programs.

On behalf of all those diagnosed and their families, I would like to acknowledge the generosity of the community and all those who volunteered their time to bring together a successful event.

Christine McMillan, general manager,

Leukaemia Foundation NSW and ACT