Bengaluru witnessed a massive traffic jam on Wednesday as vehicles remained stuck in queues for several hours causing inconvenience to the commuters. The congestion was reported in Outer Ring Road (ORR), which experienced unusual traffic prompting the traffic police to issue an advisory to the IT companies to delay the logouts.
The jam was so bad that some schoolchildren reached their home by nightfall, hours after leaving their schools in the afternoon, according to posts shared on X (formerly Twitter). Many commuters, who remained stuck in jam for long hours, took to social media to share their plight.
According to police, the traffic flow suddenly increased between 5 pm and 8 pm as many office-goers started returning home.
This is a disgraceful statement from the government. Instead of making excuses, maybe admit that Bangalore has no public transport, terrible drainage, badly maintained roads and poor city planning. My children returned from school at 9 pm, and these guys are blaming the citizens. pic.twitter.com/v9FvImQBHQ— Ritesh Banglani (@banglani) September 27, 2023
A congestion heat map shared by the traffic police showed 197 congestion alerts between Tin Factory and Silk Board on regular Wednesdays. However, on September 27 congestion alerts increased to a whopping 1,069.
The unusual traffic was also attributed to the long weekend and bandh called by farmer bodies against the release of Cauvery River water to Tamil Nadu.
Vehicle count Twice Than Normal
The Bengaluru traffic on Wednesday was twice than on a normal day. While the vehicle count on Wednesdays is 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh, on September 27, the vehicular count reached a whopping 3.5 lakh as of 7:30 pm, according to the traffic department.
Bengaluru's tech hub, ORR, faced an unprecedented traffic jam, trapping techies, office-goers, and school buses for almost 4 hours. The Baiyappanahalli-KR Pura metro link, could have eased this, but the State Govt's inaction, despite CMRS approval, prolongs the suffering. pic.twitter.com/LJEelVPRIU
— P C Mohan (@PCMohanMP) September 27, 2023
According to a report in Moneycontrol, 6.4 lakh employees commute between Silk Board and KR Puram daily, using 3.3 lakh vehicles, including personal cars and cabs.
Long weekend
Many people headed out of the city due to a long weekend from Thursday. Eid Milad-Un Nabi, a gazetted holiday, will be celebrated on Thursday, while the city will be shut on Friday as the protestors have called for a state-wide bandh over Cauvery water dispute.
The coming Monday (October 2) after the weekend is also a national holiday on account of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary.
Waterlogging due to Rains
The continuous rainfall in the tech city also led to waterlogging on several interior roads, which remained uncleared and worsened traffic congestion, according to Moneycontrol. The heavy rains also caused the formation of multiple potholes, impeding the smooth flow of traffic.
Vehicle breakdowns
There were six vehicle breakdowns reported between 3:30 pm and 5 pm on ORR, which is already narrowed due to ongoing Metro construction. The breakdowns further aggravated the traffic congestion.
In order to ease traffic congestion, the Bengaluru city police in August 2023 suggested various traffic-reduction measures to companies including staggered office timings, carpooling options, and dedicated buses for employees.
Bengaluru’s Long-standing Problem
With Bengaluru being one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, traffic congestion has emerged as a top concern, causing immense frustration and wastage of valuable time for its residents.
The city’s traffic is considered one of the major or slowest traffic nationwide. As per a recent report, the IT hub suffers nearly Rs 20,000 crore per year from the situations created by traffic such as congestion, delays, stoppage at signals, loss of time and fuel loss, among others.
The city has been grown in size from 88 square kilometers to 985 square kilometers this year, and the number likely to climb in the future.
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