FLEX IN THE CITY DEMONSTRATES COMMUTER TIME CUTS, MILLIONS IN YEARLY COST SAVINGS
October 12, 2006 - Mayor Bill White's Flexible Workplace Initiative, Flex in the City, is having a measurable impact on Houston's freeways, with time and cost savings for motorists. During September 18 - 29, Mayor White asked Houston's top business leaders, if it made sense for their business, to try additional flexible work options that eliminated at least one additional peak-time commute.
"We are pleased with these results," said Mayor White. "The project shows that by working together we can save motorists time and money without loss of productivity. And even more remarkable is that it would cost us many millions of dollars to build enough road-lane capacity to achieve the same kind of improvement in mobility."
More than 140 organizations registered for two-week Flex in the City program as participants and/or supporters, anticipating more than 20,000 employees eliminating an additional peak-time commute through teleworking/telecommuting; compressed workweeks (same number of work hours in fewer days); or shifting their commute to before or after peak-time commute hours.
Employers were encouraged to measure the effect of the flexible work option(s) on productivity while the City measured effects on Houston's freeways using Houston TranStar.
Traffic engineers have completed the travel time analysis on two Houston freeways -- I-45 north (North Freeway) and US 59 south (Southwest Freeway). The travel time indicators for the two weeks of Flex in the City show:
A 1.7 minute or 5.8% travel time savings. The average travel time during the week of Sept 11-15 was 29.7 minutes. During the Flex in the City project, the weeks of Sept. 18 - 29, the travel time average was reduced to 28 minutes.
That is 906 hours a day taken off those two freeways. (The average travel timesaving of 1.7 minutes for each of the 8,000 peak-hour commuters for each freeway during the two peak hours (am/pm) per day).
The combined estimated annual user cost savings for the more 16,000 peak-hour commuters for the two freeways is $16.8 million. (Annual road user cost savings includes the time savings from a productivity perspective due to travel time, safety in terms of traffic accident avoidance and fuel costs.)
There are 1,434 employee-commuter participant's who have responded to the post Flex in the City survey to date and that survey shows that:
68% found their commute was faster or much faster than the previous week
58% found their morning and/or evening stress levels to be lower or much lower than the previous week
96% found their productivity levels on the job to be the same or higher than the previous weeks
50% plan to continue working in a flexible work schedule as a result of participating in Flex in the City.
For more information on the Mayor's Flexible Workplace Initiative and Flex in the City and to view the comments received from the participants on the post survey go to www.houstontx.gov/flexworks.
FLEX IN THE CITY DATA POINTS
EMPLOYER PARTICIPATION
Employers registered as participant and/or supporter
140
City of Houston Departments participated
12
Anticipated number of Participants
20,000
Number of participants completing online enrollment
2,885
Number of commutes eliminated by participants completing online enrollment
16,687
FLEX IN THE CITY MOBILITY RESULTS
Mobility Measures completed on: I-45 North (North Freeway) and US 59 South (Southwest Freeway)
Travel time savings per person per commute
1.7 minutes
(5.8%)
Confidence rate
99%
Average peak-hour commuters on those 2 freeways
16,000
Total travel time savings each day for all peak-hour commuters on those two freeways
906 hours
Annual user costs savings for peak hour commuters commute
$16.8 million
Average travel time week of Sept 11-15
29.7 minutes
Average travel time the weeks of Sept. 18 - 29 (Flex in the City)
28 minutes
Analysis is being completed on additional freeways in the next few weeks.
Traffic management experts who helped collect and evaluated the data were Isaac Joskowicz P.E., PTOE (Chair of the Mayor's Flexible Workplace Mobility Measurement Committee) with Brown and Gay Engineers, Inc., and Anthony Voigt, PE with the Texas Transportation Institute. Others involved with the Mobility Measurement Committee include Nelson B. Nuckles, P.E. with S&B Infrastructure Ltd., Jeff Weatherford P.E., PTOE with City of Houston, and Carol Nixon, P.E. with the Texas Department of Transportation. They all very generously donated their personal time as well as significant resources from their respective organizations in support of the Mayor's Flexible Workplace Initiative. The Flexible Workplace Initiative offers a special thanks to each of these individuals and their organizations.
NOTE: Contact information for corporate representatives and individuals who participated in Flex in the City available upon request.
