Gridlock

Traffic gridlock and an inadequate public transport system is eroding business competitiveness and adding substantial costs in terms of lost man hours and delays in getting people to work and products to market, according to the Small Firms Association.

Dublin is next to bottom in an international league of cities when it comes to making speedy business deliveries. In a recent survey the SFA found that it takes almost an hour (57 minutes) to deliver a 5kg package in Dublin to a premises 5km away.

Ireland beats only Calcutta, in India and trails cities such as London, Amsterdam, Singapore and Johannesburg when it comes to getting the goods to the customer.

Surprisingly, Singapore heads the table, with similar 5km journeys taking just nine minutes to complete. A 5km journey in Johannesburg takes 12 minutes, London 13 minutes; Amsterdam 14 minutes and Rio de Janeiro 15 minutes. At the bottom of the table it takes 270 minutes to complete a 5 km journey in Calcutta.

SFA director Pat Delaney said: "If you want to compare Dublin with major international cities for speed of deliveries then look to Bombay or Madras for comparisons and not to our major competitors in the Euro zone and other international business cities."

According to Delaney businesses in the capital are losing hundreds of millions of euro annuallybecause of ever increasing gridlock. He commented: "Businesses in Ireland's capital are losing hundreds of millions annually because of the time lost in an every spiralling traffic problem."

Delaney believes that "gridlock impacts on business by increasing travel-to-work times, exacerbating the bottlenecks in the movement of goods and eroding competitivness."
He continued: "It is a timely reminder that we have a long, long way to go before we can compete with other cities throughout the world on the speed at which we conduct business."

The SFA director lays the blame for Dublin's traffic congestion firmly at the door of the Government.
With 23 different departments of State and Government agencies involved in traffic management in the city it is a case of "too many cooks spoiling the broth.”

Hauliers around the country bear the brunt of the congestion on a daily basis. IRHA communications director Gerry McMahon says the problem is now nearing crisis point. "At the time of the port hauliers dispute it was estimated there was a loss of production of 33 per cent as a result of the gridlock. That figure hasn't changed. If anything it has probably got worse."

He continued: "The people who suffer the most are the courier firms. They are suffering because they are multi-delivery operations. If you lose five minutes per drop and you have to do 20 drops a day, that adds up to a lot of time lost. That represents a significant loss in productivity."

While Dublin based hauliers have seen a significant reduction in their output over the last few years, there cost structure has continued to rise. "With the exception of diesel, all our costs are fixed. Insurance, road tax and drivers wages are all fixed. In productivity terms costs are fixed, while the opportunity to increase turnover is diminished because of the traffic."

When Dublin Port Tunnel finally opens for business it will make a significant impact on trafficcongestion in the city. However, McMahon believes fears that the tunnel may only move thecongestion from one location to another. "Even though there will be difficulties with the tunnel (in relation to height restrictions) it will be beneficial and most welcome provided everything else falls into place. The whole system needs to be seamless. There is no point coming out of the tunnel into another bottleneck. The second bridge at the Westlink Toll Bridge must also come on line at the same time as the tunnel."

McMahon concurs with Delaney's "too many cooks" assertion and believes there is a case a traffic supremo in Dublin. “We thought when the Dublin Transport Office was set up; it would take control of traffic management in the city. However, there are too many people with their fingers in the pie."

On the broader issue of transport and transport related problems McMahon would like to see the establishment of a Minister for Transport. “There is a problem with bureaucracy in this country in relation to transport. We need a Minister for Transport. As things stand we are running to four or five departments to deal with the same issue. If one person had overall responsibility for transport there would be more accountability. As least then, if issues weren't being addressed you could point the finger of blame at one individual."

Nationally, traffic congestion impacts most in urban areas. "The capacity on most of our roads is sufficient. The difficulties we experience are in the urban centres. If all the bypasses were completed under the National Development Plan we wouldn't have a problem on our national roads," McMahon elaborated.

The downturn in the economy has put a brake on the implementation of the National Development Plan and McMahon feels the Government should borrow if necessary to complete the programme. "At this moment in time I would suggest that the Government borrows the money needed to complete the roads network because in real terms we are playing catch up with our European neighbours. In 20 years time we will look back and ask and why we didn't borrow the money. Now is the time. We should take the initiative, borrow the money and get the job done. We have always managed to honour our borrowings in the past and I don't see any reason why we can't do that in the future," he concluded.