The new managing director of FirstBus in Bradford faces quite a challenge. We wish him every success with it. There is undoubtedly a growing demand for public transport in this part of the world as motorists weary of sitting in their cars in traffic queues and respond to appeals to reduce pollution.

Just as the number of rail passengers is increasing (and would increase further if the service was more reliable, less crowded and not hampered by a long-running industrial dispute), so are more people taking to the buses. The company Mick Herdman takes over reported a 1.34 per cent increase in passenger numbers last year, to 27,250,000. That useful increase is one the company needs to retain and build on if serious inroads are to be made into the heavy volume of private vehicles on the district's main routes. Mr Herdman clearly appreciates that well enough.

However, to do that the company needs to improve reliability further. It also needs to do everything possible to limit the number and size of fare increases. Many motorists will only switch to the buses if they can see that it will cost them the same as or less than their petrol and parking charges.

There are bound to be some concerns about Mr Herdman's ambition to extend the guided bus-lane system, which remains controversial a year after its introduction in Manchester Road. There are still reservations about it, from both a safety point of view and as far as other road users are concerned. It needs longer to prove itself before any plans for similar projects are seriously considered.