Recent figures show that West Yorkshire has some of the most congested roads in western Europe, and the reason is quite clear.

There has been no overall planning, and only failed attempts to develop sound public transport that has a level of priority over other road users. The result is the absence of light rail and tramway systems that carry large numbers of passengers, have right of way, and free up road space.

Perhaps this is understandable as most of our towns and cities took shape centuries ago, so it’s difficult to find the space that’s needed to separate cars from bikes and buses and trams. However, seduced by car ownership, we were in too much of a hurry to get rid of the trams and trolley bus systems that had served us well for the best part of a century, unlike many historic European cities that kept their trams and used them wisely.

We also ignored the lessons of some of the cities where locally-controlled bus services were so cheap to use that there was not enough congestion to merit the building of new ring roads. Sheffield was perhaps the best example, in the 1970s and 80s, with a standard fare of a few pence and twice the passenger numbers of any similar city.

The enthusiastic acceptance of free bus passes by pensioners does underline the way that cheap public transport is well-received, and keeps people out of cars. Indeed, money intended for new roads could more usefully be spent on subsidising and improving public transport.

Cities that have grown more recently, elsewhere in the world, have been able to use their extra space with very courageous planning, and forward-looking ideas, to show just what can be done.

Perhaps one of the best examples is in Curitiba, and its region, about the same size as West Yorkshire, in southern Brazil. There, more than 70 per cent of the two million inhabitants use the rapid transit bus service for commuting, resulting in less air pollution and less carbon dioxide.

It’s an attractive system. Very frequent buses, often every two minutes, with getting on and off taking less than 20 seconds because the bus shelters are weather proof, have level access, and turnstiles so tickets are obtained before the bus arrives. There’s a flat fare of 25p, transferable within the district, and the ten bus companies make a profit as their subsidies depend on mileage and not passenger numbers.

Most of the buses have unimpeded dedicated roads and there is a minimum of parking to obstruct the public transport system as personal car use is very low indeed.

Now that’s a public service we can dream of.