I would reassure Dawn Crook (Opinion, December 14) that we are doing our best to improve reliability and punctuality of bus services.

I am sorry we sometimes fail due to our own shortcomings, but many times delays are simply due to too much traffic on the roads. Any town-centre motorist or taxi driver would be hard-pressed to give a guaranteed arrival time every few hundred yards along their route through today's congested town centre, yet that is our aim hundreds of times each day.

We do not have miracle powers to plough through gridlocked traffic. The new satellite tracking system being introduced next year will be a great help but

will not in itself solve the problem.

When delays are caused by traffic congestion, we become as frustrated as our passengers. However, the criticism should be aimed at those who cause the problem - often, illegally parked vehicles or traffic in bus-only streets - rather than at those trying to provide an alternative in very difficult circumstances.

-Roger French, managing director, Brighton and Hove Bus Company