Commuters offer suggestions to ease the traffic crunch

QI worked for a company that allowed employees to work four 10hour days. I drove to work on Monday, left my car at work and took public transportation home. On Tuesday

I took public transportation to work and drove home. I repeated this on Wednesday and Thursday. This reduced my driving to four times per week. One complaint about using public transportation is that you don’t have a car at work in case of an emergency, but you do using this method. — Jeff Hack, San Jose

AI asked readers what solutions they have for beating our horrible traffic, and finding a way to avoid driving at least a couple of days a week was at the top of the list. More possible solutions will appear in Wednesday’s column.

QTelecommuting. My husband’s employer insists everyone come into the office, even when most jobs (including my hubby’s) can be easily done from home. Idiots. — S.S.

AAround 6 percent of Bay Area workers telecommuted in 2016 — the most ever. That number can improve, if our bosses realize the positive impact it offers.

QWhat happened to the idea from years ago of staggered work schedules? Spreading traffic out over 24 hours instead of normal work hours. — Bart Gach, Cupertino

AIt sort of fizzled. But many high-tech workers and Highway 17 commuters already do this, arriving late and staying late to beat traffic.

QEmployers should encourage employees to sleep in the employee parking lot. My daughter’s job in Fremont has three people living in their parking lot Monday night through Thursday night. Saves gas, lowers pollution, reduces congestion, and employees aren’t burnt out due to commutes, but you’re away from home four nights a week. — Jim Richardson

AThose with super-long commutes might find this appealing, but not that many I would guess.

QYou can talk about solutions all you want, but the truth is Bay Area traffic will never get better. It went from wonderful to terrible to pathetic over the 60 years I lived there. I finally moved out. I should have done that 20 years sooner. — M.B.

QThere is plenty of space on our highways to ease traffic. It’s in cars that have just a solo driver. Carpool, folks. — Lisa Miller, Hayward

ANearly 65 percent of area drivers go solo. A 2-3 percent decline could make our commutes much easier.

QI don’t know how toll roads will help traffic. It will just make us have to pay to sit in traffic. Public transportation is an option for only a few of us. Best option is to buy a $100,000 Tesla and go solo in the carpool lane. — E.M.

AThen we could call them the Tesla lanes.