Mayor wants to put muscle in Flex Plan

10:02 AM CST on Monday, January 31, 2005

By Amy Tortolani / 11 News

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Some studies suggest area residents spend an average of 50 hours per year stuck in gridlock.

Could flexible working hours at your job ease the a traffic nightmare?

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Mayor Bill White believes that if more companies offer Flex Plans, there will be less of this kind of traffic on Houston roads.

According to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, Houston is fourth in the nation for the longest delays per person spent in traffic.

Mayor White has long said he wants to get the city moving again and one idea, known as the Flex Plan, may add some muscle to that goal.

Rush hour traffic leaves many drivers white-knuckled and frustrated and for most, there is no way to get around the bumper-to-bumper traffic. They have to be at work by 9 a.m.

Priscilla Plumb's commute from her kitchen to her study doesn't get very busy. "It works very well for us to have flexibility in start and stop times," she says.

Plumb works for Hewlett-Packard, and is one of the thousands of employees who has a flexible work schedule. That means they can adjust their hours to fit their job.

"HP believes if provided with an environment that is flexible and respective of an individual, that employee works to the best and highest potential," Plumb says.

It also results in less traffic, and that's what has Mayor Bill White so interested.

That interest was evident in his remarks in last week's state of the city address.

"The reality is we want to continue to grow as a city. We aren't going to be able to widen and double the size of every major street and thoroughfare in town, so we have to manage the traffic on the existing streets and freeways better," says Mayor White.

The mayor will not talk specifics about how he plans to do that, but says he plans to meet with the major corporations and talk about a flexible work schedule.

Plumb has worked a flexible schedule for years, and says it's the only way to work. "It's tremendous," she says.

And if more corporations get involved, it could lead to a tremendous reduction in traffic.