Honestly, how can we carry on relying on such a drastic bus service?

On Monday, September 22, I had to go to the Civic Centre for a meeting. When I came out, I went along to Moravian Road to catch my bus home only to find out, according to the timetable at the bus stop, that I'd missed the last bus and my only way home from Kingswood was to catch a bus into town and back home from town or get a taxi.

Going by past experience, I couldn't be bothered to do too much waiting around, so I got a taxi.

I then found out the next day that there were later buses, according to the Traveline website.

So it pays not to bother reading these pieces of paper on bus stops.

Later that week, I was on my way up to Staple Hill, so I wanted to get a number 49 bus from Blackhorse. I set off to the stop at 4.40pm to catch the 4.45/4.50pm bus.

I was waiting at the bus stop for more than 30 minutes.

I saw three 48s and three 49s going towards Emersons Green. I saw three 48s, one with 49 on its side, go over the lights in Blackhorse, but not a single 49 came around the corner.

After waiting for so long, I had no choice but to give up hope of this so-called public transport system we have in this city of ours.

I walked up to Mangotsfield in the end, and it wasn't until 10 minutes later that I looked back and spotted a 49 going the way I required.

You could take the Underground away from London, the Metro away from Newcastle and the ferries away from Merseyside and those cities would still have far better public transport systems than Bristol.

So come on, Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire councils, get your act together and get this public transport sorted before you even think about building more houses.

Terry Stevens, Downend.

First reply: "We are sorry to hear of the difficulties this customer experienced in using our services last week.

"The 48/49 was one of several services affected by roadworks and heavy congestion in the city centre in the first half of last week as the fit-out of Cabot Circus was being completed. There were also problems on the motorway on Friday which had a knock-on effect.

"A revised timetable from November should improve reliability on the 48/49.

"We are investigating the accuracy of timetable information for our buses serving Moravian Road."