Flexi working hours to ease traffic jams

Huge private sector support for Govt plan:

By Chandani Jayatilleke

The private sector will support the Government’s decision to introduce flexible working hours as a solution to ease traffic congestion in the city.

Chairman, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Samantha Ranatunga said the proposal will have huge support from the private sector. “We are not going to find a solution overnight for urban congestion; we need to take an initiative soon,” he said.

The introduction of flexible and staggered working hours is one of the main proposals of a joint Cabinet Memorandum on the implementation of the comprehensive transport management plan in the Western Region Megapolis which was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers recently.

According to the Cabinet paper, “flexible working hours should be introduced in public and private sector institutions to spread the peak load of the traffic flow.

This will help the reduction of traffic volume and congestion during peak times by shifting the drivers’ commute to less congested hours and spreading the peak period.”

Ranatunga who is also the Managing Director/CEO of CIC Holdings said the entire private sector is willing to take this discussion forward and bring out workable, practical solution to the traffic issue. “It has to be a concerted effort,” he said in an interview with the Business Observer. “It is a productivity killer, which has been taken for granted. The members of the Chamber have been talking about the issue for a long time now It affects our productivity quite seriously and the time one wastes in traffic is someone else’s time as well,” he said. Transport planners say whether you live in a city, a suburb or a rural area, travelling is one of the biggest issues in Sri Lanka. Plans made in isolation are to be blamed for road traffic and other transport issues.

There are negative effects of unplanned, disintegrated development projects as transport had never been a part of these development plans. Since there is no efficient public transport system, there are too many private vehicles on the streets, creating traffic congestion and making it difficult to manage transportation.

“On the other hand people have come to a situation, where they don’t mind wasting time and fuel. Our highly costly habits are basically eating a lot into the margins.

“But ultimately the customer will have to pay to cover all these costs,” Ranatunge said.

He added that many countries have tried out staggered working hours programs.

It was reported that nearly 5.5 million vehicles cross the Colombo Municipal Council boundary over 15 gateways (Bridges). Average speed of travel within Colombo city is now only 12 km per hour and 17 km just outside Colombo.