• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

What Do You Think of Travel Links?

Posted on: Monday, 19 December 2005, 06:00 CST

The state of the County Durham transport network ( including a pounds 10m park-and-ride scheme in Durham City ( is to be put under scrutiny by North-East business leaders.

The North-East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) is canvassing businesses for their views on car use, public transport and the merits of the two-week-old park and ride.

Business owners say County Durham does not suffer the same transport problems as other parts of the region, but has its own difficulties.

NECC Durham committee chairman John Mowbray said: "Transport regularly tops the list of issues firms cite as the biggest barrier to business growth. We hope this survey will highlight exactly where problems are at their worst and we can then work towards solving them.

"We need as many businesses as possible to feed in to this piece of research to make sure we are aware of every concern."

Among subjects to be raised, the survey will discover the degree of car-sharing, opinion on the state of public transport and whether or not firms have adopted environmentally-friendly travel plans for their staff.

NECC Durham policy and representation manager Maureen Rigg, said: "We need to know what people in business think about transport in general, traffic flow, efficiency of buses, the park-and-ride scheme and train services."

Park and ride has been hailed a success by Durham County Council bosses since its introduction, but it has been criticised for charging users pounds 1.70 each to park free and bus into the city centre from one of three out-of-town sites, at Howlands, Sniperley and Belmont.

Critics say this does little to encourage car sharing.

Anyone wanting to take part in the exercise, which continues to January 3, should visit www.ne-cc.com/durham_transport

Source: The Journal - Newcastle-upon-Tyne

More News in this Category