Survey finds CBD more congested than IT corridor

Which area is the most congested in terms of traffic?

If your answer is the IT corridor, you might like to reconsider it as the Central Business District (CBD) has beaten the tech zone to the dubious distinction.

A study by a commute automation company has revealed that people commuting inside the city spend four minutes per kilometre, while those heading off and returning from the IT corridor spend a minute less.

A city-based company, MoveInSync, recently conducted the survey based on four lakh office trips by employees of various companies one-way to or from the city limits, and 11 lakh office trips one-way to or from the IT corridor.

MoveInSync founder and CEO Deepesh Agarwal said the company arrived at the findings by analysing the 15 lakh commutes registered on the company's system from January to March. "We segregated the commutes inside the CBD and trips to and from the IT corridor, and observed that the time to commute inside the CBD is, in fact, a minute more," he said.

The finding defies the widespread notion that riders to the IT zone sweat gallons as they crawl their way to their office premises, while those traversing through the thoroughfares of the CBD have a relatively comfortable time.

The company's analysis puts Langford Road and Tin Factory on top of the heavy traffic areas within the city limits, while singling out Ecoworld as the place with the highest traffic density.

In fact, all the roads leading to Ecoworld experience the potentially frustrating crawl of four minutes per kilometer, while, surprisingly, the Electronics City has a better commute time of two minutes per kilometer.

M N Srihari, a traffic expert and a former advisor to the state government on matters of traffic and infrastructure, made an important distinction to understand the data better. "The CBD has higher vehicle activity compared to the IT corridor, where the traffic is heavier only during the peak hours or office hours," Srihari said.

The major traffic lanes in the CBD are also narrower, he pointed out, and is constricted even more by the vehicles parked on the roadside. "The authorities should stop roadside parking and build more multi-level parking facilities," he suggested.