To help ease traffic congestion caused by rail and other construction projects in Central and West Oahu, City Councilman Brandon Elefante has introduced a resolution urging public and private employers to provide some help to employees, including those commuting into downtown from Waipahu and Pearl City.

Several options include offering an employer-sponsored van pool, subsidized bus passes, and flexible schedules so employees can better balance work and personal needs.

According to the resolution, employers who utilize the options could reap benefits such as increased worker productivity and satisfaction, and decreased demand to pay for parking and fuel costs.

The Committee on Business, Economic Development and Tourism is scheduled to take up the proposal at a meeting Thursday.

Elefante, who commutes to town from Pearl City, said the proposal would not solve all traffic issues, but could help to decrease the number of cars on the road during rush hour and to provide employees with flexibility.

“There needs to be more communication overall,” said Elefante, adding that he does not know how many businesses offer this help. “We’re hoping that we can have a good discussion on it and all stakeholders and employees and businesses be more aware.”

Elefante maintains that the intent of the resolution is not to be “a major solution for all businesses” but to be a starting point in initiating employer discussion and feedback.

The Hawaii Group, a human resources agency, offers a flexible work option to its 120 employees, pays for bus passes and covers parking costs, said Chairman and CEO Scott Meichtry, adding that the company implemented the flexible work program about three to four years ago. He said some workers are also able to work remotely and that about 20 percent of the employees commute from West Oahu to their downtown office on Fort Street.

“Time is so valuable in everybody’s lives,” Meichtry said. “I think it’s a great benefit for quality of life.”

As rail construction continues through Waipahu with completion near Waipahu High School scheduled for next summer, traffic and lane closures have been a concern to scores of residents, businesses and community associations, including the Aiea, Pearl City, Waipahu, Ewa and Makakilo-Kapolei-Honokai Hale neighborhood boards.

“It’s hell,” said Cruz Vina Jr., chairman of the Pearl City Neighborhood Board. “I feel for the people who got to work and for their kids who play sports after work. I don’t know what they’re going to do.”

Business owners at Pearl Kai Shopping Center on Kamehameha Highway have aired their frustrations with rail construction, saying that closing a vital westbound left-turn lane into the shopping center would harm their bottom line.

The shopping center’s property manager, Garrett Littman, said he did not hear about the resolution and was not sure whether tenants could afford to offer help to their employees.

“A lot of (Pearl Kai) businesses are mom and pop (shops), so my guess would be probably not if they’re struggling to stay afloat,” Littman said. “But I can’t speak for all businesses. Some are more affected than others.”

City Council members are considering a bill that would create a fund to offer relief to businesses negatively affected by rail construction. The measure passed second reading earlier this month.

Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation officials forecast that the rail section from Kapolei to Aloha Stadium will open in 2018, with the entire 20-mile, $6 billion transit system to Ala Moana Center fully operating in 2019. HART meets regularly with other city and state transportation agencies to coordinate various construction projects, said spokesman Scott Ishikawa.

But many residents say traffic is becoming unbearable, with one resident saying she feels like a “prisoner of our own home.”

“No matter where you go, you come home and get struck in traffic,” said Nadine Goo of Pearl City at a town hall meeting last month focused on traffic and construction issues. “It’s getting ridiculous.”