Bangalore (Traffic Capital of South)

Last evening I was stuck in a cab from ITPL and started to get restless and that familiar feeling of being stuck in traffic came over me reminding me outsiders cribbing about Bangalore’s traffic jam. To pass time the cab driver and his fellow crew started chatting. He wanted to know where I was from etc. etc. The minute he heard Bangalore he wanted to know if Bangalore is expanding rapidly and about Bangalore’s traffic. I was mildly surprised about the Bangalore traffic question and realized it was no state secret and that it was indeed tough navigating traffic in that city.
The cab driver’s question prompted a stream of thoughts about Bangalore’s nightmare traffic, a favorite topic of mine. Believe me, I have often entertained the idea of opening a traffic school for drivers and truck drivers to help them with their driving skills and road manners. Having recently spent over eight months in Pune and having had to travel around the city I have first-hand experience about Bangalore’s legendary traffic jams. It does not matter what time of day you travel, the traffic jam is less constant in an emerging IT hub called PUNE.
Add about 14-20 minutes for every kilometer and you will get a “rough estimate” of how long it will take for you to get from Point A to Point B. I would often go around asking people their views about this traffic jam problem. The one explanation that made sense to me was that most of the vehicles belonged to BPO and IT companies (many are actually leased vehicles). Since many of these companies tend to have round the clock or extended work hours these company vehicles are constantly crisscrossing and ferrying passengers across the city. That explains the volume of traffic on road. Now add to this explanation a couple of factors like inadequate infrastructure and lack of public transportation you slowly begin to understand the ripple effect of a traffic jam in JP Nagar, and how that can impact traffic all the way up to HSR layout and a traffic Jam near the Bypanahalli railway bride will lead all the way up to ITPL.
Hopefully things will improve in a quick and effective way, especially with the Metro project and the highway project near Hosur underway.
Fingers crossed .... Uh..