03/12/2012 Inside Out West

Hello from Bristol where we are going nowhere fast. Tonight, the

big cost of the road congestion and ideas to get things moving.

ultimate solution is to make sure we have got better provision so

people actively switch to different modes of transport. Also, new

evidence which suggests we might be falling out of love with the car.

He is a classic car but insurance is too much and I cannot afford it.

And a graveyard for planes. Aviation afterlife is big business.

How much does this sell for? About $1 million. This is Look East in

Now, anyone who uses Bristol's roads on a regular basis will agree

that they are seriously congested. And despite efforts to get things

moving traffic delays cost the local economy hundreds of millions

of pounds year. So, with a newly elected mayor poised to tackle the

problem, we thought we'd look at I know that Bristol is very

difficult to get around. I live here and I cycled to work. My

contribution to the billions of miles travelled in the city every

year. But the streets just weren't built for it, which is probably why

I'm always stuck in traffic. We love our cars in Bristol. But

thanks to the congestion, we crawl along at about 15 miles per hour.

At a cost to the local economy of �300 million pounds a year. And

it's bad for our health. 100,000 people live with too much pollution.

So, how did the region's capital end up like this? And what should

be done to get us out of gridlock? I'm going on journey across the

Like many journeys in Bristol, mine begins stuck in traffic on the M32.

Nearly 50,000 cars come into the city centre in the rush hour alone.

Maybe that's the problem. Dr Steve Melia should know - he's been

studying Bristol's transport for seven years. A city that builds a

load of out of town shopping centres, a motorway into the city

centre, and 20000 car parking spaces will always end up with a

traffic problem. How did we end up like this? Councils, government and

private business have, over many years, concentrated on the car and

car based development. To ease the congestion, the four councils that

run Bristol are hoping to spend over �200 million pounds on a

project called Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT. This is a similar scheme in

Cambridge. In Bristol, it's going to mean a new network of roads and

bus lanes across the city. But Dr Melia says part of it actually a

scheme for cars. What they are planning to do is to build a

general purpose road which will create a new direct rapid route for

cars from the northern suburbs to get straight on to the top of this

motorway in order to join this traffic jam here. We still don't

know exactly what form BRT will take, but it could have a big

impact on Bristol's congestion. And it follows a massive upgrading of

some of the city's existing buses. But according to some, the problem

isn't the buses themselves, it's the fares. Here and across Britain,

local authorities have cut bus fare subsidies. But Bristol has an extra

issue. And what about congestion? Is that part of the problem? There

are bus lanes and more bus priority measures, but if the congestion

gets worse, more buses have to be put on the network, more staff have

to be paid and again the passengers are hit by higher fares to pay for

those buses. David says, another problem with the buses is the

routes, where they over cross the boundaries of the four local

authorities that run Bristol. His solution is to take control of

transport away from them and give it to a new administration - an

Integrated Transport Authority, or ITA. The new mayor, George Ferguson,

had the same idea in his manifesto. We asked the councils whether

they'd back it. In a joint statement Stace said that they

would not. They said their power- sharing arrangement is working well

with buses crossing boundaries without a problem. On BRT, they

confirmed that cars would benefit but the main focus is on bus users.

My journey's brought me to Temple Meads Station - which is due for a

multi-million pound upgrade. It is part of a total of �700 million

they want to spend improving transport in Bristol, 200 million

of which could go on a new Metro David, what do you make of plans

for a Greater Bristol Metro? It's a great idea, the services would be

improved, more trains, more services, more lines but we need to

go much further. We need to look at using the loop around the north of

the city. A number of stations are within 50 miles of Bristol. So some

interesting ideas from David but they do all require extra money.

The good news is Bristol's going to have more freedom to spend money on

transport the way it wants. The bad news is, there will be less to go

around. That's because devolution is changing the way Bristol is

funded from one in which the council bids for each individual

project to one in which they get one allocated grant to cover

everything. David's dreams might have to wait. But maybe there's

another, cheaper way that doesn't involve new buses or trains. Maybe

If you look at a city like Manchester, for example, which

installed a very successful tram scheme that made less than less

0.5% difference to the amount of car driving. If you compare a city

like Bristol to the best European cities, you will see that we

actually use public transport here almost as much. The real difference

is the amount of cycling and walking. Well, I do lots of cycling.

Bristol is the cycling city after all. Today, I've come to City Hall.

The Department for Transport has been monitoring bike usage

throughout Britain. And there's some good news. We've learned that

cycling in Bristol has risen - dramatically. That should be music

to the ears of Councilor Tim Kent. Until last month's mayoral election,

he was Bristol City Council's transport boss. He has left them

with plans to spend another �20 million on bike projects in the

Tim, what do you think is the long term solution to Bristol's

transport woes? The ultimate solution is the bike and the bus.

We need to make sure we've got the infrastructure in place and we need

to make sure we have far better provision so people actively switch

to those modes of transport. We need to be doing this over the next

10 years. If we don't do that, the congestion we see now will be

nothing to what this city will suffer. Last month, Bristol city

councilors backed plans to close roads to cars to encourage more

cycling and walking. And what about the other half of Tim's plan, the

bus? One problem has been the bad blood between the council and its

biggest bus operator, First. feel frustrated that they make

changes to their routes and their fares. They don't consult us on

these. When they do consult with us, they generally ignore what we've

said. What we have said to First is that this situation cannot carry on.

We can't go on running our bus network the way it is. And if it

doesn't improve, the former transport boss has another radical

plan - take buses back under the control of the council for the

first time since 1985. So the bus companies would still run the buses,

but under our say-so. We would plan the routes and we would set the

the routes and we would set the fares. First have said that they do

fares. First have said that they do consult but it is between them and

the council. They're looking forward to working with the new

mayor. And they think if the council controlled the buses again

it would be expensive for the taxpayer and might endanger smaller

bus companies. A very tricky relationship between the company

and Good news about cycling though - but it looks like they need to

get a move on. I've heard a lot of solutions today: more buses, more

trains, more bikes, but isn't there something more radical out there?

This might be it. A Bristol based transport consultant wants nothing

less than a street level revolution. It should be much simpler. I would

remove traffic signs, road markings, signals, barriers, bollards and all

of the street furniture, signs and markings that we tend to rely on.

What we find is that produces safer streets, slower, steady movement

and much richer communities and important places as a result.

sounds like a really bizarre idea. Why do you think that it would

work? Drivers become more aware of their surroundings and we get safer

streets and a more efficient streets. That is the end of my

journey but the Bristol mayor is getting started. Can he get the

Coming up, we visit the final resting place for planes after

As we have seen, part of the problem in Bristol is our enduring

love affair with cars. But we have had exclusive access to a major

piece of research published today, suggesting that a love affair could

be going cold. A BBC Transport correspondent has been

Building roads is controversial. Not building them could be

controversial as well. How do the planners get it right? How did they

decide whether to spend our taxes on road, or rail. The only way to

be sure is to put yourself into the future and we know how easy that is.

When these fans were watching their favourite series in the 1960s, we

thought we knew how we would be travelling by 2012. We had talk of

having a personal car flying. science fiction got it wrong and

most of us get around the same way we did 50 years back. Having a jet

pack is a distant dream. Ever since I can remember, we have assumed

Well, maybe not. In transport circles there is a rumour going

round that we are falling out of love with four wheels.

They have even given it a name - Peak Car.

So what is Peak Car? Well, just look at UK traffic growth in the

'60s and '70s when we couldn't get enough cars, but by the '90s the

trend was already slowing, and by about 2002 average mileage per

person stalled. Is the love affair of the car cooling down? What seems

to be happening in very many advanced countries, including

America, is traffic growth due to car use is not going ahead at the

same rates it used to. Well, now Inside out has been given

the first piece of in-depth research into Peak Car in the UK

and this report is full of surprises. It shows that while some

of us are driving more than ever, others are dramatically changing

the way we travel. Take young men for example.

Now when I was young, I couldn't wait to get my hands on my dad's

mark 4 Cortina with reversing lights. Passing your test was seen

as a rite of passage, but apparently that is changing.

Market trader, Lee Vernon is 19, but he won't be adding to the

traffic around Mansfield Nottinghamshire any time soon. He

is selling up because he has just been quoted �2,800 to insure his

three-wheeler. I love it. It is a great looking car. A classic car

and it is rare. But insurance is too much and I cannot afford it

will stop The research shows Lee is not alone.

Young men are driving 2,000 miles a year less than they were in 1995.

Women though, young and old, are actually driving more than they

used to. So what is going on? think what changed his attitude.

Everybody gave up and got used to using Facebook and phones and

sitting around, using public transport. Nobody cares about cars

anymore. One of the big things from this report is young men are not

driving so much. A lot of it is a rise in insurance and so on. If

that trend carries on, we will see a lot less traffic and a lot less

car ownership as well. So what else has the report found?

Well, this is the rainy 7.16am from Warwick Parkway to Marylebone. Over

the last 2 years the numbers using this line have gone up by a

staggering 40%. And according to the report that is

in line with a national trend. Since the mid-'90s the distance the

average person travels by rail has soared by more than 60%, the last

time the trains were this busy was during the war. The key growth we

have seen is in two areas. Business travel in the morning using it for

work, and leisure travel at weekends were train travel has

become cheaper. Fuel prices are increasing, it costs more to travel

by car and congestion is increasing. So it is now tilting in favour of

rail. Sitting with a laptop on the train.

And of course all those gadgets mean you can now work or play on

the move. You can even book your next train ticket.

While business travel by rail is up, company car mileage is down - by

40% between 1995 and 2007 - so that is before any recession.

Scrapping tax breaks made the difference and it has had a big

impact on traffic in London. Despite more people moving to the

capital, there are fewer cars. But the report found in the countryside

people seem to be driving as much if not more than ever. Of course in

big cities you have a lot more options for getting around.

Fairfax Hall runs a London company making specialist gin and vodka and

thinks he has distilled the perfect formula for company travel.

Whenever they need a car or van they book it from a car club and

pick it up from a designated parking space 15 minutes later.

are good to go. Like a lot of small start-up

businesses we don't have a lot of money. We invested all the money we

have into the distillery. Investing money into the van did not seem

like a good use of capital, so it is relatively low cost. And then

you can just drive it 15 minutes later.

So here is a question, what does all this research mean for the

future of cars and the car industry? After all, we have had a

bit of a boom recently. The UK is on course to produce more

cars than at any time since 1972. But that is not because we are all

buying ourselves a new motor. 80% are being exported - these Minis

are heading to Asia and South America.

Last month in London at the RAC's Future Car Challenge another famous

sci-fi face was in no doubt what the future holds. I think what is

happening is a huge challenge for the car industry. I don't see the

car is coming to an end, they are to use all. But we need to rethink

the model on how we used cars, car sharing and all that. An electric

car in a city makes more sense, you have somewhere to park where it is

always charged and ready to use. And it is not just the car industry

that will be looking at this research. The Department for

Transport is planning a major road building programme based on their

model that traffic will increase by a 44% increase over the next two

decades or so. But what if they have got it wrong?

After all since 1989, successive governments have overestimated

traffic growth. This is the range of predictions. The red line is

what actually happened. There is always a risk forecasts will be

wrong. But it takes a wide and rich sector of data and ensures it is

rigorously analysed. There is a lot of useful things in his research to

look at. But I am not convinced it shows we have reached Peak Car.

The government points out the UK population is predicted to grow by

another 10 million in the next 25 years. And the RAC Foundation who

helped fund the report says that means we are still going to need

more roads. This is not the end of the car. The use of the car has

been declining, but the 70% of the population people will need to use

cars unless they have railways and buses available and most people

won't have those things. This is what we thought travel in the 23rd

century would look like. It goes to show just how hard it is to predict

the future. The danger is, you just assume it is going to be a bigger

version of what we have today. The motor car has been the transport

story of the last 50 years. I never thought I would say this, but it

might not be the transport story of the next 50.

What does this button do again? Don't press that!

In our final film tonight, we are looking at a graveyard for

aeroplanes that have been criss- crossing the world. We look at what

happens to them after they taxi of the runway for the last time.

Here, deep in the Cotswolds amidst the chocolate box villages, clotted

cream teas and quiet calm, a most extraordinary business has taken

off. And the big clue is up there. # Come fly With Me...

Ever wondered what happens to redundant jet airliners? Well, so

far over 500 have ended up here, the largest and busiest plane

recycling business in Britain. This is Air Salvage International,

launched 15 years ago at Cotswold Airport near Cirencester, when Mark

Gregory took a gamble by risking �1,000 on an old turbo prop plane.

Mark was an engineer working for Dan Air an airline that went bust.

With my redundancy money I bought an aircraft, a very small turbo-

prop aircraft. I stripped it down on my own with no help from any one,

which was quite a challenge. In no time, Mark had sold the aircraft

doors alone for �4,000 and realized he was on to something. A lot of

people thought he was completely mad. But he ended up employee in

quite a few people who thought it would never work. It has paid off

in the end. Now Mark employs over 40 people who break up and recycle

44 aircraft a year. Almost every part of a modern plane can be used

again. I would say anywhere between 80 and 95% of the plane gets re-

used. Nuts, bolts food trollies, doors, life jackets even the

emergency chutes. Everything has a part number and a serial number.

Everything is traceable. If it does not have a part number or serial

number, it is worthless. But the most prized part is the engine.

This is amazing. You come to work here every day? Every day. What is

it you do? We will do a quick engine run, preserve the engine and

then take it off. Ultimately the engine is coming off? Yes. Before

it comes off? An engine runs. fire it up. How much does it sell

for? About $1 million. So it has already been sold? Can I fire it

up? If you want. Which button do I press? It is this one here. I am

going to do this. What a noise what a thrill. But on

the other side of the runway, it's as quiet as a graveyard. There is

an eerie, unsettling feel about these pensioned off planes. And

film companies are queuing up to get hold of them before the

demolition jaws bite. Service will go onto a lorry and go work? This

is going up north, to a film company up north, Warner Brothers.

Quite a major film, then? This adds to the other things you have been

involved in? Casualty? Dr Who, James Bond. If I wanted one of

those, how much would it cost? About 25,000, as it is at the

moment. Can't afford it. I certainly can't afford this!

Yes. What can Mark Tierney, shaken and not stirred. Just occasionally,

his company comes across something special. Like this VIP gold plated

jet once owned by an Arab sheikh. This is far too good to scrap, so

Air Salvage is turning it into a high end hospitality suite. They

will park it outside their reception and you will even be able

to have a sleepover. Possibly even people who want a weekend away.

Rather than the Mile High Club, it will be the 10 ft high club.

Discoveries like that are rare, but there's often real drama in this

business. Air Salvage becomes truly international when they're called

on to recover parts like this after a crash, or in this case, a cockpit

fire. July 29th, 2011. Flight MS- 667 was preparing to take off from

Cairo to Jeddah when the fire took hold. 300 passengers were evacuated

and the plane was written off. sent a team of guys to Cairo,

stripped the plane down and brought them back. They are on the market

to be sold. It must be quite exciting? It is. We never know what

will happen because we are always on standby to go out and recover an

aircraft. One thing is for sure they really enjoy their work here.

Eventually all that is left is the aluminium body of the jet and that

will soon be on its way to the beer and soft drinks industry. So that

can you're drinking from might have flown round the world 24 times

But it's the artistic and unusual design uses of redundant jets that

Designer, Will Walmsley, from Gloucester, turns jumbo jets into

objects of art. What have you done with this? Taking a cabin crew seat

from a Boeing 737. Built legs for it, strip it out and giving it a

new coat of paint. People will buy these for their houses? Enthusiasts,

and anyone who likes the minimalist style. How much would this be?

About �650. And this looks like a lamp or a light fitting? It is a

hydraulic events and it is now just a lamp for a living room. --

hydraulic event. Why would people want this? People who want

something that no one else has. much with the Celts for? About

�1,200. -- sell for. It looks like this may be one industry that is

recession-proof. Air travel is still expanding and with it the

demand for new planes. So more and more jets will end their life here

in the Cotswolds. But not this piece. I rather fancy this in my

Well that's just about it for this week but if you'd like to keep in

touch with what we're up to then you can find us on Twitter. Or you

Next week, we investigate what's been going on behind the scenes at