Bengaluru city center ranked second slowest to drive in the world: Study

Bengaluru's city centre was the second slowest to drive through in the world in 2022, with about half an hour of travel time by road to cover 10 km, according to the latest report by specialist in geolocation technologies, TomTom.

Bengaluru:

TomTom stated that it took 29 minutes and 9 seconds to travel 10km in Bengaluru city centre last year. (PTI)

Bengaluru's city centre was the second slowest to drive through in the world in 2022, with about half an hour of travel time by road to cover 10 km, according to the latest report by specialist in geolocation technologies, TomTom.

In its research released on Wednesday, TomTom stated that it took 29 minutes and 9 seconds to travel 10km in Bengaluru city centre last year. London ranks first with an average of 36 minutes and 20 seconds to travel 6.2 miles (10 km) in the centre of the capital city in 2022.

Dublin which is Ireland's capital, Japanese town of Sapporo and Milan in Italy, rank third, fourth and fifth respectively, according to study.

The 12th edition of its annual TomTom Traffic Index, details traffic trends across 389 cities in 56 countries, throughout 2022. TomTom has assessed traffic in each city and the cost of driving in terms of time, money as well as the environmental impact for a driven mile.

The study took into account the time, cost and CO2 emission per mile driven, and simulating how long it took to complete a 10km (or 6-mile) trip within a city, for typical EV, petrol and diesel cars.

The study also found that Bengaluru ranks fourth in the number of hours lost, 129 hours, due to rush-hour traffic. Even with flexible working arrangements, option to work remotely, the time people lost in global cities to rush-hour traffic only increased over the past year, it said, pointing out that Dublin lost the most amount of time, with as much as 140 hours, due to traffic.

The cost of traffic jams on the driver's wallet if also quite significant, the research said. While London topped the list with the highest CO2 emissions per driven mile during rush hour, Bengaluru ranked fifth.

According to Professor Ashish Verma, a mobility expert from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru has been consistently in the top five and the report is not something unexpected. "Bengaluru is definitely among the worst congested cities because of misplaced infrastructure planning and transport interventions in the name of solving traffic problems without getting any results. However, I don't think we should really give too much importance to the relative ranking. It all depends on the sampling," Prof Verma said.

Prof. M N Sreehari, who is the advisor to the government of Karnataka for traffic, transportation and infrastructure and Chairman, Indian Smart Cities Development Organization for infrastructure, said that more than the time lost, the total loss in the revenue is much more horrifying in Bengaluru. "The total travel cost, including delays in Bengaluru is about ₹19,750 crores annually. If we talk about any transportation mode economically, we should work out not only the time, but also the driver satisfaction, good road condition, and other related infrastructure facilities," Sreehari said.

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"Unfortunately, in Bengaluru, the roads are very narrow. While the problem continues, no politician or planner is bothered. Even though the width is very less, if it is kept free, in a good condition, it can improve the situation. In every house, the parking has been shifted to the roads. It is the total failure of the Bengaluru Corporation and the traffic police. They know very well as per the law, that road is meant for traffic. and footpaths meant for pedestrians. We are not developing any infrastructure also. Footpaths are widened at the cost of the road as well," Sreehari said.

Meanwhile, civic activist and convenor of Citizens’ Agenda for Bengaluru, Sandeep Anirudhan, pointed out that the congestion rankings put out by Tomtom or Inrix, are fundamentally flawed in their methodology.

"I don't agree that London is the most congested. I still feel Bengaluru is the most congested. The rankings do not quantify the amount of time being spent by individuals for commute. They are only computing time spent by drivers on roads. That represents only a fraction of the population. If a majority of the population are using mass transit and walking or cycling for first/last mile connect they might not even have to use the roads," Anirudhan said.

"In London itself, more than 20% of street surfaces are devoted to cycling tracks, and they are said to account for 70-80% of traffic during peak hours. That with an excellent mix of multi-modal transport such as the underground, suburban, buses, waterways, cabs, etc., ensures that the majority are getting by quicker in London, while the idiots in cars are stuck in traffic. The rankings are only telling the sorry tale of these private vehicle owners. It is a small percentage of population with private vehicles who are holding the streets of London hostage," Anirudhan said.

"Whereas, in Bengaluru, it's the other way around, because we have almost negligible public transport. We have nascent metro system, no suburban rail, a pathetic bus network, no cycling lanes, no first/last mile connect, ensuring that a majority of the population uses private vehicles, choking the roads. Here, everyone is responsible for the chocking. And maybe the ranking is getting Bengaluru's congestion ranking right, purely because everyone here is almost a driver. Whereas in the case of London or other cities worldwide that have multimodal transport, the rankings might be way off the mark," Anirudhan added.