Government needs to act on promised transport solutions: SFA
The Small Firms Association has labeled bank holiday weekends 'Groundhog Day' for business and commuters due to the resulting traffic chaos.
The business organisation said the disruption costs hundreds of millions of euros annually as
goods and people get stranded.
SFA Director Pat Delaney said that the problem of traffic gridlock across Ireland was eroding competitiveness and challenged the Government to "deliver on its promises".
While welcoming the extension of bus lanes and the Luas light rail project, Delaney believes more initiatives are needed to speed up the integration of transport systems.
He said today: "With respect to more park and ride sites, integrated ticketing, proper bus shelters, up-to-date information on bus and train availability and guarantees on service delivery and continuity, we are simply not at the races."
Delaney estimates that transport costs are currently estimated at 5% of production costs, with time spent in traffic making Irish business uncompetitive.
"Irish traffic is in constant gridlock and travel-to-work times are increasing, exacerbating the bottlenecks in the movements of goods through our ports and eroding the competitive edge of businesses from all over the country.
"Our prosperity depends on business, business depends on the ability to produce competitively prices goods and services and to get them to the right market at the right time," Delaney concluded.
