Bengaluru, known as India's tech capital, thrives on innovation. But beneath its high-tech facade lies a persistent issue that has haunted the city for years – traffic congestion. Whether you're a resident or a visitor, everyone has a traffic tale to share about Bengaluru. Commuters in this city frequently find themselves ensnared in long queues, attempting to navigate the chaotic roadways. Social media platforms, notably Twitter, have become outlets for people to vent their frustrations, even turning the city's traffic troubles into a source of ‘peak Bengaluru’ memes.
The city's rapid expansion, coupled with haphazard infrastructure planning, has exacerbated Bengaluru's traffic issues rather than alleviating them. Ongoing metro construction projects in various parts of the city have narrowed roads, leading to slower traffic and increased congestion. Despite numerous government promises, public transport initiatives continually face delays.
Various governments over the years have chosen to solve traffic woes by increasing the number of flyovers and underpasses in the city or more recently, mulling over a congestion tax. But recent reports on Bengaluru’s mobility have also shown that flyovers have done nothing to help traffic, it has only shifted the traffic from one bottleneck to another.
So, what can be done to alleviate Bengaluru's traffic woes? The majority of the city's traffic originates from office-goers and school attendees. The overlapping timings of most offices and schools result in a rush of people hitting the roads simultaneously during peak hours. Mobility experts suggest solutions like spaced out office and school timings and more flexible work schedules to mitigate the problem.
“Bengaluru’s traffic issues are not due to one factor, they are multiple complex factors that have led to the situation today. The efforts currently being made to move vehicles, we need to put in efforts to move the people instead. Public transport and walkability are two factors that need to be amped up in the city, one cannot exist without the other. While public transport is slowly improving with increasing metro connectivity, we need to ensure that clean and safe footpaths are also installed so that people are not forced to take vehicles after getting down from a metro station,” says mobility expert Srinivas Alavilli.
But citizen activists argue that improving the city's subpar public transport system should be a top priority. They advocate for discouraging personal vehicle use and encouraging a shift towards public transport. They insist that the purple line metro should be operationalised immediately, with the yellow line following suit by early 2024. Furthermore, enhancing last-mile connectivity by introducing metro feeder buses to and from areas lacking nearby metro stations is crucial.
The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) must expand its services, coverage, and frequency significantly. Presently, the fleet comprises over 6000 buses, but doubling this fleet size is imperative to cater to the city's needs effectively.