The Impact of Transport Problems on Inner City Firms: A Review.

Previous studies of inner city manufacturing and service firms and studies of industrial relocation are examined to determine the problems of operating in inner areas, the factors causing firms to relocate, and the criteria which determine the choice of new site. These are related to the issues of retaining existing inner area firms and attracting new ones.

Much of the previous work is limited in scope, largely qualitative, and frequently at a level of aggregation which makes identification of particular problems or factors difficult. Existing inner city firms perceive the transport problems of their own operations and of their employees as a major disadvantage of their present location, but there is a lack of quantified information on the extent and relative importance of these problems, and whether they are more severe for inner city firms. Transport issues in themselves are not one of the prime reasons causing firms to relocate, although the influence on availability of suitable labour is more significant. At a regional level transport is not one of the most important criteria in the choice of location, but as a determinant of site at the local level it is mentioned frequently enough to warrant further study. A number of other factors involved in these decisions are to a greater or lesser extent related to transport.

To place firms' transport operations in a wider context transport costs, industrial traffic generation, and the effect of some forms of control are discussed.