Bengaluru top cops blame civic mess for city's traffic problem in podcast with Nikhil Kamath

Bengaluru's top cops attribute traffic issues to civic mismanagement, infrastructure gaps, and rapid urban growth rather than enforcement neglect.

In a conversation on billionaire Nikhil Kamath’s popular podcast, Bengaluru’s top police officers offered a rare behind-the-scenes look into the city's notorious traffic woes, and they aren’t pointing fingers at enforcement.

According to Anucheth, Bengaluru’s traffic troubles stem from sheer scale rather than administrative neglect. (YouTube/Nikhil Kamath)

Instead, they placed the blame squarely on civic mismanagement, legacy infrastructure gaps, and explosive urban growth.

When Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha, posed the question that every Bengalurean has asked, “Why is the traffic so bad, and is there a real solution?”, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), M N Anucheth, responded with a nuanced, data-backed explanation that went beyond the usual narrative of chaos and blame.

A city that outgrew its roads

According to Anucheth, Bengaluru’s traffic troubles stem from sheer scale rather than administrative neglect. With over 1.23 crore vehicles for a population of 1.5 crore, the city has the highest vehicle-to-population ratio in the country.

“We’ve grown faster than our infrastructure,” he noted, referring to the IT boom in the early 2000s that turned Bengaluru into a global tech hub almost overnight.

He also acknowledged public frustration as valid, but pointed out that complaints often miss the larger picture. “We’ve compared Bengaluru to several global cities. In terms of delay per kilometer, it’s not the worst, but our visibility as traffic enforcers makes us the natural targets,” he said.

Missed buses on public transport

One of the key reasons for the city’s congestion, he said, was its late investment in mass transit. While cities like Mumbai and Delhi built robust metro and train networks early on, Bengaluru relied for decades solely on BMTC buses.

“We didn’t invest in high-capacity systems in time,” Anucheth said. But he’s optimistic about recent progress: the Whitefield–Yeshwanthpur Namma Metro line, for example, has reduced peak-time traffic by 17 per cent.

Addressing a common complaint, Bengaluru’s infamous potholes, Anucheth took a surprising stance. “People assume it’s corruption or poor quality, but it’s often high traffic volume that breaks down roads,” he said. He advocated for concrete roads and better urban planning that can withstand Bengaluru’s daily wear.

Who to blame?

Despite these efforts, the traffic police often bear the brunt of public outrage. Anucheth emphasized that most issues, potholes, drainage, flyover bottlenecks, fall under the jurisdiction of other civic agencies like BBMP, BMRCL, or BESCOM. “We’re the most visible face of the government on the road, so we get the complaints. But many factors are out of our control,” he said.