UK transport system is ‘failing’ businesses

2 December 2008

The UK’s flawed transport system is costing businesses £17,350 each, according to a new report from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).

A survey of some 2,700 businesses found that road congestion has pushed up operating costs for nine out of ten of them, while 80 per cent said that traffic problems had contributed to a serious loss of man hours.

The report, entitled ‘The Congestion Question: A Business Transport Survey 2008’, estimated that the cost of congestion has climbed by £5.7 billion since last year, reaching a current total of £23.2 billion.

Blaming the sheer volume of traffic, a problem compounded by poor road design, planning delays and the lack of alternative transportation, the report said that road transport was failing UK business and argued for an urgent and complete revision of transport policy.

Some 95 per cent of respondents to the survey believed that the planning of the UK’s major transport infrastructure schemes takes too many years, and 90 per cent agreed that transport schemes are too bureaucratic in their design and implementation.

Almost eight out ten businesses gave their backing to the principle of road pricing, but only if improvements to public transport and investment in infrastructure were made beforehand.

Faced with a transport infrastructure that still clings to its Victorian foundations, the BCC set out a series of proposals that would help ease the chronic dilapidation of the system.

These include bringing forward public transport projects; the building of a new north-south high-speed rail line to relieve pressure on existing lines; giving an immediate go-ahead for the third runway at Heathrow; and improving the planning process with the rapid implementation of an Infrastructure Planning Commission.

David Frost, the BCC’s director-general, said: “This survey highlights the need for a long term strategy that is prepared to take drastic action to improve and upgrade our transport networks.

“High profile projects such as the third runway at Heathrow and a new high speed railway must happen. Passengers and road users are becoming more infuriated as their journeys become longer and more costly.”

Mr Frost added: “If the UK is to maintain its position in the world it must invest in its infrastructure. A first rate country cannot operate with a third rate network.”