HUNDREDS of York businesses are being asked to name their biggest transport problems and say what could improve the city’s infrastructure.

Members of York Professionals and the York Business Forum have been sent a ten-question survey to ensure the views of the private sector are taken into account as York’s latest Local Transport Plan is drawn up.

The Transport for Business survey asks firms for their top three transport issues. Options include the unpredictability of journey time, parking, customer access and the costs to business in terms of time and money.

They are then asked for suggestions on how to solve the problems, and to say whether they think their businesses would benefit from projects such as electric charging points, a city car-share scheme and shuttle buses.

The survey asks for views on the creation of an out-of-town freight consolidation centre, whether people feel it would be beneficial to have a meeting space available at railway stations to meet clients, and what they feel are the incentives and disincentives for using public transport.

Helen Jackson of York Professionals, said the survey was launched following a meeting of York Business Forum, at which Richard Wood of City of Council spoke about the latest Local Transport Plan. “The ‘LTP3,’ as it is known, is currently in its consultation period,” she said. “York Professionals are keen to use the survey as widely as possible to get the views of all areas of business in the city.”

She said York Professionals had about 80 members from the city’s professional services, such as the banks, legal firms, marketing companies and accountancy firms, and the business forum had about 300 members representing 200 companies. “We would welcome people who run any business group to contact us by emailing hjackson@york-professionals.co.uk and using the survey, which can be accessed from the front page of York Professionals website, york-professionals.co.uk,” she said.