A Scottish Parliament will of course have its greatest impact on Edinburgh but it will both add to factors turning attention in that direction and draw in others. The focus of trade has turned sharply towards Europe with the promise of tending even more towards central and eastern Europe. New attractions such as the arrival of Britannia and the development of Leith, and the construction of the Dynamic Earth exhibition next to the Parliament site draw increasing business.

Its major road bottleneck, the Newbridge junction of the M8 and M9, has been eased if not fully resolved. Yet the capital's only motorway link to England is via the west coast and its ring road slows to a crawl during the lengthening and inappropriately named rush hours.

Better approaches to and around Edinburgh to clear bottlenecks and the upgrading of the A1 to south and east coast English ports were also the dominant demand three years ago. So was a second Forth road, though this looks most likely now to be closer to the Kincardine Bridge.

''The whole issue of the car and public transport is very much top of the agenda, with awareness from the business perspective that things are changing,'' said Peter Stillwell, chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise.

''The whole road network is creaking. The by-pass is clogged up from 7.30am. The business community is aware that the car is being forced out by congestion and taxation.

''In the next few years it is extremely unlikely that money will be spent on more roads. The introduction of Green Ways has had quite a major impact which has seen some movement of people back on to public transport.

''A quarter of a million people have used buses since the introduction of Green Ways. If you can add the benefits of reliability and comfort then there is a chance of people changing their mode of transport.''

Yet there are strong economic pressures pushing up the number of commuters. ''Increasing numbers of people are being sucked in from Fife to meet the needs of the economic growth of Edinburgh from Fife, even with the horrendous journey from the Forth Road Bridge.

''Fife is pushing for a bridge more to the west, near the Kincardine Bridge. The Fife population is vitally important to Edinburgh. With house prices being pushed up in Edinburgh people are going to move out and Edinburgh cannot afford to lose their skills.''

Stillwell would like to see more money being spent on rail. ''The Scottish Parliament could really help to increase connections. Most trains going south are pretty crowded. GNER has made it better than it was.

''We need much more investment in a better rail network, and extension of the GNER franchise so it can build tilting trains, and an improved service to Glasgow

''There has to be great pressure to get responsibility. There is a real feeling that if there is one thing the Scottish Parliament can do it is to improve the transport.''