Optimism is growing among transportation consultants according to latest figures which show that more than 85% of firms are currently confident about the business climate over the next 12 months.

 

The statistics are highlighted in the 2016 Transportation Consultants Directory, which has been published this week alongside the June edition of Transportation Professional.

 

This year 26% of 86 firms polled said they were ‘very optimistic’ about the year ahead while 61% claimed to be ‘fairly optimistic’. Corresponding figures for last year were 24% and 62% respectively.

 

Meanwhile those registering as ‘fairly pessimistic’ have fallen from 3% last year to just 1% in 2016.

 

This increasing optimism comes after an overwhelming 93% of firms said their workload went up during 2015. Just 5% reported that their workload had declined and 2% said it had remained the same.

 

The predominantly positive results follow a trend that has seen workloads grow every year since the sector’s recovery began in earnest in 2012. At that stage only 67% of the respondents reported that their workload had increased.

 

“The transportation industry appears to have seen a boost in the last year, which has been led by the private sector and backed by the Government, with its increase spending on transport infrastructure projects,” commented TTC Transport Planning’s managing director Alan Bailes.

 

Anticipated growth is predicted to come from all the main work areas, with 61 of the firms polled expecting to see further increases in their transport planning workloads. Work in roads, urban design, local transport and rail is also expected to continue growing.

 

Meanwhile there has been a rise in the number of firms expecting work in the airports sector to increase during the current year, perhaps due to the impending decision on airport expansion in the South East.