Bengaluru tech company bails on ORR; blames traffic, potholes

Many firms may follow suit as pothole-filled stretch makes commute unreliable.

Bengaluru-based logistics tech company BlackBuck, formerly known as Zinka Logistics Solutions, is planning to move out of Vaswani Presidio, ORR, Kadubeesanahalli, citing "traffic and pathetic road conditions."

In a post on X, Rajesh Yabaji, co-founder and CEO of BlackBuck, said, "ORR (Bellandur) has been our ‘office + home’ for the last 9 years. But it’s now very-very hard to continue here."

"We have decided to move out as the average commute for my colleagues shot up to 1.5-plus hours (one way); roads full of potholes and dust, coupled with the lowest intent to get them rectified," he added, stating that he did not expect any of the ongoing issues to be addressed in the next five years.

The company employs over 1,500 people and is backed by marquee investors including B Capital, Accel, and Goldman Sachs. Yabaji, however, did not disclose where the office would be relocated.

Krishna Kumar Gowda, General Secretary of the Greater Bengaluru IT Companies and Industries Association, told DH that he was saddened by Yabaji's announcement and would try to ensure that BlackBuck wouldn’t leave Bengaluru. He fears multiple firms along the ORR are contemplating the same move.

"We express deep concern over the continued infrastructure neglect along ORR, exemplified by slow-moving traffic, endless potholes, and unreliable commute times. The decision of leading firms to move out highlights the urgent need for government intervention. We call for a transparent roadmap to improve roads, metro connectivity, and public utilities," he said.

The social media post, however, opened a can of worms, with several corporate and startup employees raising similar concerns.

Suhas Reddy, who works at Northern Trust in Brookefield, spends about an hour one-way commuting from Kalyan Nagar. "About 40–45 minutes is spent being stuck on the ORR. And it's not even during peak morning hours; the situation is the same even at 11:30 am. If you travel at 6 am, when there’s no traffic, you can complete the stretch in about 20 minutes," he said.

Corporate workers noted that traffic was especially worse on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

"There have been days when I’ve spent about two hours stuck in traffic in the evenings. It is extremely tiring. Morning rush hour isn’t any better either. To make matters worse, my company is asking us to ditch the hybrid model and work from the office daily. But we're against this due to the traffic mess. It impacts productivity," said Sneha ST, an IT professional at a Bellandur-based firm.

Responses on X were also similar. "Bellandur feels like a workplace purgatory. The roads are a mess, pedestrian infrastructure is practically non-existent, the air is thick with dust, and greenery is a distant thing. Parking is a daily nightmare..." tweeted Shankar Mysuru (@MeShankara).

Public transport only solution: Police Chief

DG & IGP and Head of Police Force M A Saleem stressed the importance of improving public transport in Bengaluru. "It is the only way forward. No traffic diversion will help unless public transport is prioritised. The metro work on the ORR will soon wrap up, and this will provide some relief. Once the metro is operational, it will greatly ease the traffic burden on the roads, as the metro will become one of the main modes of transport once it opens up. Plus, the bus priority lanes (BPL) will also return on the ORR," he told DH.

The ORR falls along the Blue Line of Namma Metro.

In July, the BMTC managing director had announced the return of the BPLs to the ORR by January. However, the project has not seen much progress since, according to a BMTC official