Bully for Kathie Tugwell of St Catherines, Canada (Letters, December 28), who swanned in as a visitor from North America and sampled our bus system.

Not for her the daily grind of struggling to and from work at a given time. As a visitor, she had no urgency with regard to time. Us poor locals who travel the buses on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis certainly know differently.

Does her "special" treatment mean we also will be given a scenic courtesy car ride when our bus is either late or non-existent, as is often the case? If not, why not? Surely discrimination should not be tolerated.

However, that might mean Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company going out of business with the amount of car rides it would have to provide. But then, us locals know we won't be treated like visitors and, after all, we are just the mere bread-and-butter factor and have no alternative but to suffer.

This is not for the first time a letter has been printed from a visitor - but not a local - in praise. There have been many times I have seriously considered giving up my job because of the traumas of bus travel. That experience gives me more stress than the job itself.

It would be interesting to know other bus users' opinions - not the ones who doddle in for a bit of shopping, when time is of no importance, but the core users who travel

regularly for work purposes. These people make up the bulk of the travelling public on a Monday-to-Friday basis.

-Name and address supplied