Area officials promote alternative driving habits
Traffic could worsen if Houstonians don’t try ideas to avoid solo drives
Curbing congestion in Houston will require changing some drivers’ commuting habits, local leaders said, or else a larger region will have an even bigger problem with gridlocked streets and highways.
“I know many of our citizens are tired of getting stuck in traffic,” said Alan Clark, director of transportation planning for the Houston-Galveston Area Council.
Unless more Houston-area drivers make changes, traffic will only get worse, city officials, regional planners and business leaders said during the recent kickoff for a website aimed at convincing people to change their commuting habits.
As part of an August push as Commute Solutions month, H-GAC launched findasmarterwaytowork.org, which provides area workers and employers with information and ideas of how to avoid solo commutes, such as joining a carpool or working some days from home. H-GAC oversees everything from a majority of the federal funds steered to highway projects to programs aimed at encouraging more telecommuting.
According to census data and numerous local surveys, more than threefourths of workers in the Houston metro area drive alone to work. The highest total in the region is in Brazoria County, where nearly 86 percent of people drive solo to their jobs.
Alleviating the traffic congestion, officials said, will require giving workers a better option, but also an acknowledgement that Houston has built roads and residents have used them because that’s what local governments have provided them for mobility.
“I want to move away from only adding roadway capacity,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said, noting his support for transit projects such as a controversial plan for dedicated bus lanes along Post Oak in the Uptown area.
‘Try once a week’
For people to use buses or bikes to get to work, however, supporters concede employees will need to be convinced it’s a practical solution. Transit must get them where they need to go conveniently and efficiently — something many workers say it does not do now. In the area within the Sam Houston Tollway, for example, workers have typical commutes of less than 10 miles, but drivers inch along stressed local streets, which also slow Metropolitan Transit Authority buses.
“It is time to change that,” said Bob Eury, president of the Houston Downtown Management District, citing the need for not only better transit, but in some cases bus-only lanes that make transit more attractive. “Metro’s new bus network is the key, I think.”
Many businesses already are on board, especially in downtown and major job centers. Companies, especially those with limited parking, offer to pay for transit or encourage employees to work from home.
“I have seen an increase in some of the employers that are offering a vanpool subsidy,” said Kelly Rector, transportation coordinator for the Energy Corridor District in western Houston.
Some of the biggest supporters of alternative transportation are oil and gas companies with larger Energy District operations. BP has a large bike locker with a repair station for employees, and others, such as Conoco, Shell and Citgo, have successful programs that give workers options other than solo driving.
Improvement also does not require wholesale changes by most people, officials stressed. A slight reduction in total vehicles can dramatically improve travel times on many highways and local streets, Clark said. Taking the bus once a week when practical, or working from home a day or two if possible can be a start.
“Try once a week,” said Eulois Cleckley, assistant director of transportation planning at H-GAC. “It can be all the difference in helping alleviate congestion.”
Transit officials changed the bus system nearly a year ago, focusing on core routes crossed by less-frequent service. The aim was to connect people to fast, reliable service. Though, critics have pointed to examples where some riders have longer trips or farther walks to a bus stop as a result.
Closely watching
In June, Metro reported a 2 percent increase in overall transit ridership, despite a 5 percent drop in park-and-ride service many attribute to job losses in the energy industry.
Increasing bike commuting, meanwhile, might require businesses willing to add on-site incentives, such as changing rooms and showers.
Still, the disastrous downside of worsening traffic is something companies are closely watching. Investment in alternatives is increasingly making sense. Houston’s economic vitality is aligned with an ability to move more goods to and from the area and get workers to their jobs, said George DeMontrond, chair of Greater Houston Partnership’s transportation committee.
“It is important to all of our bottom lines that growth is sustained,” DeMontrond said.