Stagger work hours to ease traffic pile-up
published: Thursday | September 15, 2005

The Editor Sir,

AFTER SPENDING two and a half hours in traffic on my way to work from Portmore this morning I started to realise that the only way to ease the traffic situation is to stagger the working hours. By doing this what would happen is that people wouldn't have to be leaving their homes so early to reach work by 8:00 a.m. or 8:30 a.m., every morning.

My suggestion is that the private and public sector companies meet and decide to implement three new working shifts which should be 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. It would reduce the amount of vehicles on our roads at any one time during the peak hours. I know people who have to leave their homes in Portmore from 5:30 a.m. in the morning and they are still encountering traffic. So if I were to start work at 10:00 a.m., I could leave at 8:00 a.m., and by that time the traffic would be less. It's an idea that needs to be looked into because almost everyone starts working at 8:00 a.m., and that's why the traffic is so terrible in the mornings and it would also decrease the amount of fuel consumed.

I hope someone will look into my idea because it might just be our saviour, not the toll roads.

I am, etc.,

LEIGHTON CORNWALL

leighwall@hotmail.com

Greater Portmore

Via Go-Jamaica