How bad is traffic?

[georgina3]

I've heard nightmare stories about the traffic in Bangalore... Is it really as bad as people say? Is it something that should make me think twice about moving there?

[sabareesh_n]

Indeed, yes. Specifically if a person is travelling from Silk Board to Whitefield or vice versa, to cover a distance of 20 kms it takes min 3 hours. Thankfully, Southern part of Bangalore is not as worse as Northern and Western part.

[jitesh_sekar]

Well yea the traffic is bad..the city's transport infrastructure has not caught up with rapid urbanization it has gone through.But things are changing as the city is getting connected by the new metro rail system,and if you avoid travelling at peak time you won't have any problems. Lastly Bangalore has every good thing that India has to offer so don't be discouraged by it's traffic woes..

[brajeshwar]

Yes, traffic is indeed pretty bad. The morning and evening office commute time are bad. If you're moving here for work, the plan would be to stay close to work. Nonetheless, you can take advantage of the situation

• Don't drive yourself, use Uber and/or OLA, read/work in the back of the car.
• Stay close by and bike/walk to work or use the local tuk-tuk. Some of the drivers can be irritating but fare is very cheap, and they can zip in between cars pretty hastily.

[Kewal_Kris_Asterick]

On a busy day, it can take upto 3 hours while travelling from one end of the city to the another. Office hours are the busiest. So, normally people just stay near their workplace which is basically a good idea in general. If I have to compare it is not as bad as the other big cities around the globe.

I hope that answers your question. Feel free to reply back.

[Saket_Narayan]

As long as your job does not require traveling around the city and you live close to your office (if any), I'd say it's going to be alright.

[Anurag_Adhikary]

Traffic is really bad.
Check Google maps live trafic.
It will give you some idea.

[Nithin_Emmanuel]

depends on which location you are moving into.

[Manish]

Short answer: Those stories are true

Bangalore's infrastructure hasn't been able to keep pace with it's growth. Most of the IT companies (assuming you work in the industry) are concentrated in certain areas ("Whitefield", "Electronic City", "Koramanagala" etc.). If you can live and work in the same area, you shouldn't worry too much about the traffic. Most of these areas have enough malls, cinemas, restaurants etc. for urban living. I don't believe they have enough open/outdoor spaces though.

Other problems with traffic here, apart from insane commute time, are that most drivers/riders chose to use the horn excessively, they are frustrated (choicest of abuses for the smallest of mistakes), quite a few two-wheelers regularly ride on footpaths and general disregard for pedestrians (because everyone is in a hurry), in fact, a lot of roads don't have footpaths because the government had to widen the road to accommodate more traffic.

Personally, I live in the old part of Bangalore used to work for a company 26 km away (in Whitefield) and my commute time was around 1.5 hours in the morning (early morning to avoid traffic) and 2.5 to 4 hours in the evening (peak hour) using company's bus. I quit my job in about 6 months, and chose one which allowed me to telecommute.

Here's an article that came out in the newspaper a A week old article about the current state of traffic in Bangalore

You have been warned!

[Naveed_Ahmed]

Yes. It is bad. And worse part is that it is unpredictable. What takes 2hrs at 10am today might take 30mins tomorrow. That is what makes the Bangalore traffic a nightmare. If we could predict the travel times, people would have had a better work-life balance in Bangalore.

I have been advising many of friends/colleagues against moving to Bangalore. I would recommend the same to you.

However, the Bangalore weather is a lot better than what you will find in other IT hubs in the country. (though Bangalore weather was much nicer and pleasant about 8-12years back)

[Junaid_Bhura]

The traffic is quite bad, but that really depends on where you plan to stay and work. The people who say that they have to travel for hours obviously don't stay too close to where they work. It's the case in any big city, but admittedly, Bangalore does need an infrastructure upgrade. It's something you need to factor in, but isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for your decision to move.

[James_Shawn]

agreed with the fact that this shouldn't be among top reasons why we should or shold not move.. but also agree that this is still something to take into consideration!