A Wednesday: Terror of the traffic kind

Bengaluru’s technology industry corridor, the Outer Ring Road (ORR), witnessed a massive traffic jam on Wednesday as thousands of vehicles were reduced to moving at a snail’s pace along a stretch of several kilometres. The ORR is usually overcrowded, with bumper-to-bumper traffic especially during peak hours, but what happened on Wednesday was unprecedented even by that standard. Most commuters who were stuck in that mess complained that they took over three hours to cover a distance of 2 km. This, despite Bengaluru Traffic Police and the Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) desperately appealing to IT employees to stagger their departures from office. Bengaluru may be known for its notorious traffic snarls across the city, but such an unmanageable vehicle pile-up in the tech hub may well be bad news that India’s Silicon Valley may not recover from for a long time.

The police have listed several reasons for the jam. Many employees who have hybrid work mode commitments to fulfil chose to go to office on Wednesday to make up for Tuesday, when they were forced to work from home due to Bengaluru bandh. At the same time, thousands were also heading out of town to take advantage of the extended weekend stretching to October 2. In addition, the rains, the narrowing of roads at many stretches due to metro-related work, potholes, the breakdown of a few vehicles and Ganesha idol immersion processions en route all came together as a perfect storm.

The police, ORR-based companies, and their employees should act in tandem to avoid a repeat of such situations in the future. The imminent opening of the metro link between Baiyappanahalli and KR Puram stations should offer some relief. The frequency of the metro service should be increased and adequate first and last-mile connectivity made available so that commuters won’t have to bring out their own vehicles. Work from home arrangements, staggered office timings, BMTC feeder services will all have to be part of the solution. The traffic police should also evolve, in coordination with IT companies, tech-based solutions for an early warning system to alert commuters about traffic congestions well in advance. The bottom line is, Bengaluru, especially its tech hubs, need improvements in public transport of all types and technological and social solutions that make them the preferred way of commuting. The city’s poor reputation on the traffic front is already dissuading investors and leading to flight of capital. The government, too, can no longer afford to be complacent about it. The coming Tuesday will once again be a test for all stakeholders as IT employees return to work after the extended weekend.