IT is good news that more First Bus links have been provided to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital from north of the river as this will help staff who have had to transfer from the Western and Yorkhill Hospitals to their new locations.

The 15 and 16 partially replace the 19/19A in the West end leg of the city and whilst the new number 16 route might be useful to patients and visitors living in Broomhill, Partick, etc. whose healthcare has been transferred from the Western to the new hospital.

The same can't be said for the residents of Summerston and Maryhill. Their healthcare provision was transferred to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary .

At present the number 19 provides a direct route from Summerston to the GRI, however with the introduction of the new services this will no longer be the case and patients and visitors from Summerston and parts of Maryhill will now have to get two buses at additional cost and inconvenience.

Jason Roberts, posted online

ANDREW Forsyth challenges me to provide a number of explanations (Evening Times Letters, July 16) and I am happy to do so. Zero-hours contracts are what we used to call 'flexible working' and, along with self-employment and part-time work, are ideal for millions of people. Foodbanks are a brilliant charitable innovation designed to help people in a financial mess (as food, unlike money, cannot be misspent). Benefits sanctions exist to pressure the uncooperative unemployed (a minority of the jobless) into work. Workfare was introduced to provide work experience at little cost to the taxpayer. George Osborne's budget aims to help the "working poor" via the increased personal allowance and the introduction of a National Living Wage, instead of via the tax credits we all pay for. And the long-overdue Universal Credit is intended to be simpler and more efficient than our current benefits system.

Keith Gilmour, Glasgow, via email

I WORK in Sauchiehall Street and it is getting so derelict at the moment traders and shops are suffering because of this.

It's about time they made use of the space that's staring them right in the face and bring back alive Sauchiehall Street and Glasgow.

Natalie McKee

WHAT happened to manners in our society. Everyone seems to think they have right of way whether it be in streets or supermarkets, and never apologise if they bump into people. And there is no point in speaking to them after as they can't hear for wearing their earphones.

A Leitch, Kinning Park