Now in its 14th year, our NRMA business survey continues to reveal interesting insights into the issues faced by fleet running businesses in NSW and the ACT.
As the nation continues to emerge from COVID-19 restrictions, we were interested to hear what our business members thought about a range of topics including transport costs, congestion and parking. This year, the survey also included important questions around electric vehicles (EVs) for fleet running businesses.
Interestingly, more than one-third (36%) of the 271 businesses surveyed said they would consider EVs when upgrading their fleets. Of these, 38% believed this transition would happen in the next 2-3 years.
The volatility of petrol prices in 2022 has many businesses looking to the future and investigating ways to make an easy transition to electric. Almost two-thirds (65%) of businesses say rebates and financial incentives would further encourage them to purchase EVs for their businesses.
With traffic volumes largely back to pre-COVID levels, it’s not surprising to learn many businesses are changing their operating models to offset the impacts of congestion. Almost half (46%) of those surveyed said they were now allowing more time for deliveries and 32% said they had rescheduled meetings and appointments to avoid peak hour.
As well as congestion, parking concerns were also top of mind for many businesses, with 84% of operators who rely on loading zones reporting increased problems finding a space in the past 12 months.
For sole traders and fleet operators, time spent in traffic and finding parking is time not growing their business, so we’re committed to ensuring both the state and federal governments continue to invest in infrastructure projects that better connect our sprawling city.
We’ll continue pushing these initiatives and being a voice for our 28,000+ fleet running members in 2022 to help fast-track the rebuild of our economy by supporting businesses on the road to recovery – and getting workers home to their families sooner.
