MY late father-in-law lived in Malaysia. When visiting, I was often struck by the way that the people discussed transport. Their government has tried to tackle the problems with the transport network and, when they do, they talk about the “first and last mile”.

Getting to public transportation and getting to your destination is often hobbled by that first and last mile and, boy, is that true in Scotland.

Last week, the Scottish Government ended its peak time rail fare experiment ("Dismay as peak rail fares return", The Herald, August 21). On the one hand, it had failed to meet the success criteria: it wanted a 10% increase, uptake was only 6.8%.

Twenty-five years ago, I studied a unit called The Economics of Transport. Economists were stressing the need for an integrated transport policy which would allow for buses to tessellate with rail; for effective park and ride schemes, for congestion zones, a quarter of a century ago. In essence, solutions to the first and last mile.

What we got was further fragmentation, further privatisation, a relentless march of higher prices and worse services.

The Scottish Government has taken ScotRail and the Caledonian Sleeper back under its wing and is making tentative toddles towards sorting things. But the Government will continue to fail to meet its climate targets if it does not take long-term choices, invest in them and leave them to play out over the long term.

Transport infrastructure investment, the multiplier effect of jobs in manufacturing, staffing and providing these systems is inherently good for an economy.

But it is not a quick fix. And the Scottish Government is not able to do long-term planning because of the short-termism imposed by Westminster: no borrowing powers on international money markets, no guarantee of stability in the block grant, a requirement to balance the budget annually.

Sartre said “hell is other people”. In order to make sharing a confined compartment with those other people, public transport must be cheaper, more reliable, more frequent and less attractive than a hermetically-sealed box of your own company.

We’re not there yet and, this week, we moved further away.

Peter Newman, Edderton.

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Don't take away our dying wishes

DR Miro Griffiths is well able to voice his opinion and views about assisted dying ("MSPs warned over ‘unjust deaths’ as they consider controversial legislation", The Herald, August 27), however he will always have the ability to reject assisted dying as he wishes.

By trying to prevent the passing of this bill he is attempting to deprive others of exercising their choice in this matter.

He is of course correct in stating that a patient's decision will be influenced by socio-economic status as those who can afford it will still access assisted dying in Switzerland, probably about six months earlier than they need to.

I do agree with him that all the factors he stated do need to be addressed, but preventing others from benefiting from the option of assisted dying will not resolve these issues in any case and I might be forced to die prematurely if it is not available in this country.

As stated he has the option of not accessing assisted dying.

To the vast majority of living things, including all life forms, life is the most precious gift they will ever have and they will fight to preserve it at all costs and will not willingly sacrifice it without justifiable cause.

Iain McIntyre, Sauchie.

Why electricity is so expensive

IAN Moir (Letters, August 27) is the latest in a series of correspondents to express an opinion on the price of energy in this country. Let me say that our commitment to net zero is not folly; it is vital to the well-being of everyone in our society.

An explanation of why electricity costs are high in comparison to gas would be helpful. Electricity is expensive because the power produced from gas-powered stations is by far and away the most expensive in comparison with all other forms including nuclear, biomass and renewables. The UK electricity market is treated as a single entity so anytime a gas power station comes online (and this will happen most evenings when families are at home) the price spikes dramatically for all electricity companies and must be passed on to bill-payers. This happens even though nuclear and renewables producers have offered their power at much lower prices. This policy is set by the government regulator, Ofgem. It is surely ripe for overhaul.

In addition, the price for gas may have come down from the peaks associated with the Ukraine war, but the long-term trend is definitely upwards. The wholesale (not retail) price of gas has tripled in the last five years. In simple terms that's an annual inflation rate of 40%. So perhaps we should be thankful for the more modest increases to the energy price cap.

Those readers wishing to do their own research on energy pricing could do worse than refer to the reliable website nesta.org.uk which can provide more detail about this important topic.

Jeff Rogers, Banchory.

Why is electricity so much more expensive than gas?Why is electricity so much more expensive than gas? (Image: PA)

Now that's what you call cross

THE interesting letter by Mike Lewis (August 28) on the dangers of "turning right on red" in America brought back memories of how easy it is to be caught in such a situation.

Whilst travelling to work by car on Long Island some years ago, I was waiting at a red light to cross right on to a double-lane road. My main concern was looking to my left for possible oncoming traffic. As I turned right I very nearly knocked down a frail, very elderly lady who with cane in hand was hobbling across the middle of the road.

I was just able to stop and avoid hitting her. With the car stopped I sprawled across the bench seat, wound down the window, lying across the seat with my face just visible over the bottom of the car window and started to warn her to be more careful and cautious in crossing such a wide road.

She got her retaliation in first. "F***you," she said and continued to complete her crossing, leaving me rather speechless.

Robin Johnston, Newton Mearns.

• ONE thing that I quickly noticed as a retired civil engineer who specialised for a time in developing road safety engineering: raise the topic of roads and particularly road safety, and you are assisted, if that is the word, by 30 million advisors.

John A Taylor, Dunlop.