I did this by starting work at 9:05am instead of 8:00am when I lived in LA back in the `80s. Waiting that hour to leave took 1/2 hour off my drive time both way

I did this by starting work at 9:05am instead of 8:00am when I lived in LA back in the `80s. Waiting that hour to leave took 1/2 hour off my drive time both ways. My employer wasn't happy about it but he wasn't paying me to sit in gridlock traffic for the 90 minutes a day I spent to get there and back home. When I decided to do this I was amazed that the difference between leaving at 8:30am instead of 7:30am made no difference at all in how long it took me to make the drive, but leaving at 8:50 I could drive the 55mph limit all the to my off ramp (about 10 miles) and 35mph from there to where I worked (about a 1/2 mile). The suggestion that companies stagger start times to reduce gridlock is not new. In my case back then the work I did was specialized and I was a subcontractor getting paid by the job so I had the luxury to pull that off. But it stuck in my craw that employers expected those who work for them for a salary or hourly wages to give them those long commute times for free. FWIW: Sitting in gridlock traffic is the reason I left Los Angeles. It was consuming way too much of my life.