Bengaluru, often referred to as India’s Silicon Valley, has become synonymous with innovation and technology, as well as the city’s notoriously congested traffic system that brings the city’s vitality to a standstill. A journey that would normally take 20 minutes can easily exceed an hour during peak times. However, Bengaluru’s traffic situation is more than just an inconvenience—it reveals a more profound and troublesome combination of infrastructure, policy gaps, social behaviours, and economic disparity. The disorder captures the essence of the city’s dichotomies: contemporary versus traditional, peripheral versus planned, and informal versus digital evolution.
This article sheds some underlying reasons for Bengaluru traffic and feasible solutions that need to be applied along with policy changes.
The Roads Are Shared, But Not Equally
During a weekday morning in Bengaluru, the city’s streets epitomise the mixed economic standing of urban India. You notice delivery riders on two-wheelers, office-goers on motorcycles, buses for school students honking, cabs for office-goers, and techies in air-conditioned vehicles. Additionally, autorickshaws and buses try to navigate through the cramped streets. Each form of transport highlights a different set of priorities and a unique risk tolerance.
As for two-wheelers, they account for more than 70% of the registered vehicles in Bengaluru. While these riders are among the most vulnerable road users, they tend to take the boldest risks by riding on footpaths and skipping traffic signals to save time. The BMTC buses are also important for public transport usage, but their failure to provide dedicated bus lanes leads to traffic congestion.
Road design still does not accommodate the diverse range of people using the roads—for cyclists, some poorly planned portions of the city remain empty or unused. While footpaths do exist, they are uneven or cluttered with vendors. The unpredictable behavioural patterns that accompany the sheer variety and volume of today’s traffic are difficult to manage, especially when the roads were never designed to accommodate such.
The Influence of Digital Economy on Mobility
Bengaluru hosts over 10,000 tech startups and is the headquarters of several multinational information technology companies. The city’s digitally employed workforce widely uses service providers such as Uber and Ola. Although these services provide ease of use, they contribute to the underutilisation of carpooling options and solo ridership, sharply increasing the number of vehicles on the road without decreasing congestion during peak hours.
Food and e-commerce delivery companies contribute to reckless driving in the form of aggressive, time-sensitive driving for the sake of customer ratings. This fuels congestion without making any difference in travel time. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) study illustrates that most ride-hailing journeys undertaken are single-occupant. Dumping fuel into traffic jams causes further stagnation while disregarding the rules of the road.
Bengaluru is still perceived as the tech capital of India; however, the traffic management systems continue to be primitive. While some intersections and junctions have adaptive signal technology installed, they still rely on manual control daily. The implementation of AI-based traffic monitoring systems proposed by startups has yet to make a full city-wide leap, hindering the integrated use of cities.
Behavioural Challenges and Social Norms
The traffic situation in Bengaluru is rooted in both behaviours and infrastructure. The overtaking, lane discipline issues, signal disregard, and even neglect of pedestrian rights all point to behaviour rationalised as making order out of chaos.
Driving behaviour, or the lack of it, is contingent upon the mode of transport one is using. For example, autorickshaw drivers will cut lanes entirely because they value time and flexibility. On the other hand, private car users seem to commandeer road space, which adds to an unmapped societal hierarchy that is not often spoken of in policy discussions.
A gender perspective in the use of roads has also been ignored. From coupled surveys of Janaagraha, we learn that 63% of women feel unsafe commuting described transport and footpaths. This stifles mobility access for women, which in turn deepens social inequity.
Policy Gaps and Infrastructural Myopia
The rapid growth of Bengaluru has not been matched by improvements in the city’s infrastructure. In 2023 alone, the city recorded nearly 500,000 new vehicles, but construction progress on roads or improvements to public transit lagged behind. The Namma Metro is a promising addition, but only about 70 km of its coverage has been constructed so far, serving only a small portion of daily commuters.
Urban planners consider flyovers and signal-free corridors as quick, temporary solutions. Congestion is often alleviated at one point only to be pushed to a different location with flyovers. Additionally, the vehicle-centric approach to infrastructure development tends to prioritise convenience for motorists while sidelining public transport and non-motorised public transportation options.
Coordination of different departments also appears to be lacking. Maintenance roadworks conducted by the BBMP coincide with routes put under construction by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), resulting in unnecessary roadblocks and dust pollution. An absence of a centralised transport authority leads to fragmentation and creates problems that impact commuters.
Possible Solutions: Beyond Quick Fixes
Resolving Bangalore’s traffic congestion requires both immediate and long-term mitigation strategies. Charging vehicles for entry during peak hours in heavily trafficked corridors can curb excess car trips and improve public transport in the area.
Last-mile metro and bus user e-rickshaw and shared bike connections alongside designated walking paths must be improved. Furthermore, bundling transport for school and office trips has the potential to reduce unnecessary vehicle traffic.
Deployment of technology, like GPS from rideshare and delivery services, can help to create predictive models for congestion, as well as congestion hot spots, making it more effective. Opening up such data to the public through dashboards could foster civic participation and responsibility.
Nurturing also integrates civic sense. Public campaigns focusing on lane discipline, proper helmet use, and giving priority to pedestrians should also include fines for infractions. Traffic education in schools can instil positive behaviours early on.
Conclusion: Can Bengaluru Reimagine Its Streets?
While other cities have problems similar to Bengaluru’s, in this case, the city’s economic profile makes it a particular hotspot for traffic issues. The road infrastructure and traffic congestion are more than just a transit agony; it is intricately connected to people’s livelihoods, social life, work balance, and their daily existence. The answer cannot be uniform or universal if rickshaws, techies, students, housewives, and gig workers intertwine in their everyday lives.
Bengaluru’s solutions cannot revolve solely around app-based services or overpasses. The city needs an urgent paradigm shift to view streets as shared public spaces to prioritise citizens instead of cars, equity instead of ease, and infinite wisdom instead of short-sightedness. Without this transition in the city’s planning approach, the result will be even more catastrophic for a city that aims to progress.
