Rain adds to traffic misery, travel time goes up 62%: Study

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru

 The current wet spell has only worsened the traffic woes of Bengaluru motorists. A report by a transport startup that works on employee commutes says that the commute time in the city has increased by 62% after the monsoon began.

Bengaluru has been bearing the consequences of the heavy showers, with low lying areas being flooded and vehicles on roads left stranded.

Put out by MoveInSync, the report says as recorded back in February, the average commute time in the city was 42 minutes. With the pandemic restrictions no longer in place and children returning to their schools, while employees returned to their workspaces, the commuter population has increased significantly, leading to an increase in commute time. The latest reading was 60 minutes, however, last month the recorded average rose to 72 minutes owing to the rains.

 Bellandur specifically has seen a large spike of 62%, having 86 minute commute time. Whitefield came second with a spike of 48%. Areas like Indiranagar, Electronics City, MG Road and Bagmane were not that affected and saw a spike of 11-17%.

The report has also explored the best days to travel during rain and says that Mondays are the days that do not see much difference because of rains, while Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the commute time is 20 minutes more than the average time. Data was not recorded on Thursdays and Fridays since they received no rains.

Deepesh Agarwal, the CEO of the startup has said that the report indicates that Bengaluru is on the verge of returning to its pre-Covid phase of traffic volumes and it also points to the lack of travel infrastructure.

“The traffic congestion has significantly increased since the rains. The rains have given rise to many potholes filled with water, making it hard for motorists to manoeuvre, thereby increasing the travel time,” said Abhinav Bhargav, an employee at an IT firm located in Electronic City.

 “Waiting amid traffic is tiring, especially in a two-wheeler as there is no space to accommodate the luggage with ease,” he added. Nikhil Bhandri, a software engineer, tweeted, “Outer Ring road is in very bad condition in terms of traffic, drainage and pollution.”