Commuters in Bengaluru face many constraints on the road with traffic congestion and bad roads adding longer hours to their travel time. In fact, conversations revolve around walking is faster than driving, not that all of Bangalore’s citizens have started walking.
Growing economic development of Bengaluru has added to the woes of its citizens. Office goers are facing many hours on the road and a recent post on Twitter by Mahesh Bhatt shows how for a distance of 7 kms, walking is faster than driving. The distance is between Brigade Metropolis to KK Puran Railway Station which according to Google Maps, showing real time traffic situations, can be traveled in 44 minutes while driving, and in 42 minutes while walking.
It should be taken into account that Google Maps uses different routes for calculation purposes and it is not necessarily the same walking route as the driving route. According to Google Maps, the driving route is 7.5 kms and walking route is 3.5 kms in this instance of walking is faster than driving. Whatever the route selected, it still equates to a quicker arrival while walking, and could in fact be a lot less strenuous than crawling along in an endless trail of slow moving traffic.
The already bad traffic situation and road conditions in Bengaluru have gotten worse during the recent rains in the city which received its heaviest rainfall in 155 years. The situation is not likely to get any better with the city crammed with IT professionals and a host of MNCs in the city. The city’s transport system and road infrastructure is incapable of managing such growing numbers and a survey suggests that in 2005, traffic moved at speed of 35 kmph while in 2014 it slowed down to 9.2 kmph. Today, at peak times, speed is just 4-5 kmph on the Bengaluru Outer Ring Road, which came into being to provide a solution to commuters but has turned into a slow moving stretch at office hours.
