80% of the business sector, think congestion in the UK is getting worse according to Europcar survey
Over 300 businesses were surveyed by leading vehicle rental company, Europcar and the findings have revealed the impact traffic congestion is having on an already struggling UK economy.
Over 70% of businesses said that congestion is impacting the effectiveness of their staff travelling for work and 80% said they felt that congestion on the UK’s roads is getting worse.
Nearly 42% of respondents comprised of fleet managers and travel managers, they estimated that as much as 20% of every business journey was spent in traffic congestion. A further 29% thought the situation was even worse, estimating that as much as 30% of every journey was time lost due to the sheer weight of traffic on the roads.
David McNeill, Corporate Sales Director, Europcar, said “Congestion is clearly having an impact on the nation’s economic profitability at a time when businesses are really under pressure to be as cost-effective and efficient as possible. While significant investment has been made in our road network it simply isn’t enough and the jury’s still out on the Government’s plans for road pricing and High Occupancy Lanes on motorways. But what is certain is that we drastically need better measures to ease congestion. Certainly at Europcar we are working with customers to address some of these concerns, from identifying opportunities for staff to share journeys and cut fuel consumption to monitoring and managing better use of vehicles. But what this survey has clearly shown is that we must all take responsibility to identify the ways in which we can reduce congestion on our over-stressed road network.”
Simon McBride
