Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It is quite clear that those who use the guided-bus service on Manchester Road as well as those who justified the huge £12 million expenditure on this scheme believe it to be a good thing.

However, motorists who have been experiencing severe delays along the road, having to stop at some of the 11 existing pedestrian crossings (soon to be increased), have a less glowing impression.

People who use the buses will no doubt be pleased with it, though there are still grave doubts about the need to cross to the middle of this busy road to get on a bus, which is a rather more dangerous exercise than boarding one at the roadside in a lay-by.

As the T&A predicted from the start, though, both private motorists and business drivers who need to use Manchester Road on a daily basis are finding it frustrating and irritating. The danger is that they - particularly shoppers for whom a car journey into town needs to be made as easy as possible - might start to avoid Bradford because of it.

It is clear from the Council report into the progress of the scheme that it has partly backfired. Traffic has fallen along Manchester Road not because more motorists are jumping on buses but because they are switching to already-busy routes like Little Horton Lane and Wakefield Road.

On the face of it, the biggest benefit of the scheme has been the tidying-up of Manchester Road. Was that really worth £12 million, especially as the end result might be a decline in the fortunes of city-centre retailers, which is the last thing Bradford needs?