Bengaluru, a metropolis gridlocked and stranded – Imperial Wire

Bengaluru’s site visitors drawback has lengthy been a topic of public frustration, with commuters dropping a unprecedented variety of hours on choked roads. Subsequently, the newest TomTom report that ranked Bengaluru because the second-most congested metropolis on the earth has come as no shock. For a metropolis that positions itself as India’s know-how and innovation capital, that is an indictment of years of poor mobility planning.

Congestion in Bengaluru shouldn’t be merely the results of rising inhabitants or financial progress. It’s the consequence of planning decisions that didn’t align transport infrastructure with how town really features. Information from Karnataka Transport Division present that the variety of registered automobiles in Bengaluru has risen sharply from about one crore in 2020-21 to almost 1.23 crore in April 2025. This progress has occurred alongside the focus of employment in a number of main clusters, primarily Electronics Metropolis, the Whitefield–ITPL hall, and the 17-km Outer Ring Highway (ORR) stretch, that homes lakhs of day by day workplace commuters. These corridors weren’t initially prioritised within the metropolis’s public transport growth.

Inadequacy of mass transit

Bengaluru’s commute spine stays the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Company (BMTC), working 7,067 buses, catering to almost 48 lakh passengers each day, the best ridership for any city-run public transport system in India. Regardless of its scale, the BMTC has struggled with a shrinking fleet energy relative to demand, gradual common speeds as a consequence of blended site visitors, and the absence of devoted bus precedence lanes. The stress on the BMTC just lately prompted former Infosys CFO T.V. Mohandas Pai to counsel that the BMTC needs to be opened as much as personal participation, which drew robust opposition from Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, who argued that public transport can’t be run for revenue. Whereas the Minister’s defence of a public-run bus system is legitimate, with out sustained capital funding, bus precedence infrastructure and improve in variety of buses, the BMTC can not resolve the site visitors situation.

Furthermore, the metro community within the metropolis has didn’t fill this hole. The development of Namma Metro started in 2007, and the primary stretch opened in 2011, with new corridors added through the years. Whereas these improved metropolis mobility, Bengaluru’s prime employment locations have been once more not thought of. This planning hole turned evident when the metro’s Purple Line was prolonged to Whitefield in 2023. Information from Bangalore Metro Rail Company Restricted (BMRCL) confirmed a right away improve in ridership of round 2.5 lakh to three lakh passengers a day. The same pattern emerged after the Yellow Line to Electronics Metropolis opened in August 2025, with day by day boardings on the brand new line alone crossing 60,000 inside weeks. City transport specialists have identified that the earliest metro corridors prioritised areas with comparatively decrease commuter demand, whereas main employment hubs needed to wait over a decade. The result’s seen on the ORR stretch. Regardless of being town’s largest employment stretch, the ORR should wait until 2027 for operational metro connectivity.

Look forward to suburban trains

Bengaluru has lengthy wanted a high-capacity regional rail system. The Bengaluru Suburban Railway Mission was lastly sanctioned in October 2020, with an bold plan to function trains throughout 4 corridors spanning 148 km and 58 stations. The undertaking was proposed to serve almost 20 lakh commuters day by day. However just lately the deadline to open the undertaking was pushed to 2030 from October 2026. Furthermore, last- and first-mile connectivity stay notoriously insufficient within the metropolis. Shared auto companies are restricted, pedestrian infrastructure is inconsistent, and biking infrastructure stays fragmented. Whereas cab and auto aggregators have stepped in to fill some gaps, commuters report the unavailability of companies throughout peak hours or sharp fare surges.

The general fragmentation of the transport community in Bengaluru is compounded by a disempowered Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA). Conceived as an apex physique to coordinate transport planning throughout businesses, BMLTA has but to perform as an efficient decision-making authority. Plainly with out regulatory intervention within the broader mobility framework, aggregators have develop into unreliable when demand is the best.