The cost of traffic congestion is becoming a major problem for firms outside Dublin, a new survey has shown.
Ibec's Road and Traffic Congestion Survey 2006 found that 59 per cent of businesses outside Dublin faced rapidly rising delivery costs and disrupted staff schedules due to congestion. For 50 per cent of firms in the capital the increased costs were becoming a major issue.
This is a marked turn around from Ibec's last research on the issue in 2004 which found that just 37 per cent of companies based outside Dublin were struggling with costs associated with congestion and just 42 per cent of Dublin firms.
Overall, nine out of 10 businesses are losing either money and/or time due to chronic traffic congestion, according to Ibec.
A quarter of all firms surveyed said their businesses faced significant additional costs due to congestion. A third of all firms nationally face major delays to delivery schedules, the study found.
Reg McCabe, Ibec transport director, said the questionnaire was designed to exclude other non-wage cost increases, such as rising fuel, and just concentrate on the added costs created by congestion. He said the Government should now seek to include projects to relieve urban congestion in Transport 21. He said the proposed Dublin eastern bypass required urgent approval and to be fast-tracked for early delivery.
The research also suggests that employees are increasingly factoring in traffic congestion when making decisions on employment. Over the last two years the number of firms losing staff due to congestion has tripled to 21 per cent in Dublin and 9 per cent outside.
Almost half of all firms in the capital said punctuality was affected by congestion, the report found, with more than a quarter of firms having employees frequently missing meetings or travel connections.
State agencies charged with resolving traffic congestion scored poorly on their effectiveness in dealing with the issue.
Local authorities were seen as ineffective in dealing with congestion by 83 per cent of respondents, while 77 per cent said that the Department of Transport was also failing to adequately tackle the issue.
Mr McCabe said it was difficult to cost the losses faced by businesses. The European Commission estimates the cost of congestion at 1.5 per cent, which would suggest businesses operating in Ireland are losing between €2 billion and €2.4 billion per annum due to congestion. "The ESRI came out with a similar figure recently and I would have no reason to contradict that." Mr McCabe said the research also showed a significant increase in networking and teleworking and also strong support for better public transport.
"Take car pooling. Almost 50 per cent of staff are in favour of car pooling. These are the areas that the Government could explore because the research suggests you are talking to a receptive audience."
Mr McCabe added he would like to see a directly appointed mayor, on a five-year term, given responsibility for resolving congestion. "The Dublin Transport Authority could be hugely significant, but it should be headed by a mayor. We have too many faceless officials."
Yesterday, Fine Gael called for the Westlink toll barriers to be raised when tailbacks develop as part of a package of measures to deal with congestion.
The party also recommended accelerating the work on the M50 upgrade with weekend and nightime working and the immediate provision of 200 extra buses for Dublin Bus.
