Nigel Searle lives a few yards from the main A27 trunk road suffering severe noise and vibration pollution and having great difficulty getting his car out. He therefore understand all the demands that something must be done about congestion. However, rather than taking the easy option to jump on the band wagon to spend masses of public money building a second Arundel Bypass he has taken the responsibility of  learning about the dynamics of traffic growth and has searched for a solution to end congestion for good.

He observed how every time a new  road was built or road capacity increased, there was a step increase in traffic and congestion out side his house.

Talking about  possible solutions to one of his customers, his understanding of the issues was recognised by Richard Iles FCIT FILT, a Fellow of the Institute of Logistics and Transport (IOLT) (amalgamation of the former Chartered Institute of Transport and the Institute of Logistics) who advised Nigel to contact the then Chartered Institute of Transport (CIT) to study and research the subject to influence the debate. To his surprise the education officer of the CIT was another of Nigel's customers Terry Warren FCIT FILT who encouraged him with his research, and was his tutor for the course.

Nigel's research soon overturned his thoughts that improving and integrating public transport would reduce road congestion. He discovered traffic growth had not come from public transport but from longer journeys - many of which were transferred from walking. (see figure 1) He discovered that access is what people require and transport is just a means of access. Before the mid 20th Century most people accessed their needs by local walking. Contrary to conventional wisdom the price of road use paid by the user is far less than its true economic price and this has encouraged excess demand for transport and the spreading out  of the needs of society so that people can no longer access their needs locally a vicious circle fuelling traffic generation where the only limit on traffic growth is congestion.

The solution is innovative, will encourage thriving communities - generate wealth for everyone and reduce congestion. Nigel asks you to read this with an open mind and then lobby your MPs and get a campaign going to improve society for future generations.

The faith Richard Iles and Terry Warren have in Nigel has been richly rewarded when he was awarded an Advanced Diploma in Transport by the CIT just before amalgamation. On his way to this accolade he achieved a distinction in Transport Policy and much of that work  is contained in this web site.

Transport is not all there is to Nigel - he is also a musician and Chairman of the Phoenix Big Band. Please visit their web site  www.phoenix-bigband.co.uk   where bookings can be made for  a very entertaining evening listening and dancing to their music.

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