Delhi most stressed out during peak hour traffic

Despite flyovers, wide roads and the Metro, Delhiites are a more stressful lot during rush hour traffic compared to their counterparts in Mumbai and Bangalore.

Despite flyovers, wide roads and the Metro, Delhiites are a more stressful lot during rush hour traffic compared to their counterparts in Mumbai and Bangalore.

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A social sentiment index study, carried out by IBM, in the three largest Indian cities, reveals that Delhiites (50%) fret the most about traffic jams online as compared to residents of Mumbai (29%) and Bangalore (34%). IBM is one of the world's biggest computer services provider.

IBM Cognos Consumer Insights assessed and scrutinised 1,68,330 online discussions from September 2011 to September 2012 across social platforms including Twitter, Facebook, blogs, forums and news sources to arrive at these findings.

The study says that Delhiites talk about stress much more than commuters in Mumbai or Bangalore. Though Delhi has witnessed significant improvement in road infrastructure and also has a much more robust public transport system, its relative 'negative sentiment' for rush hour is 35 per cent. The study ascribes Delhiites' tendency to fume about traffic snarls online to waterlogging and increase in number of rallies this year, as well as the recent power outages.

There are also interesting variations between the cities analysed. Delhiites chatter online the most about public transport, weather and the stress of commuting. Bangaloreans show more concern for their overall driving experience, construction and parking issues while Mumbaikars talk about private transport, accidents and pollution more often.

Both Delhiites and Bangaloreans, however, are not too perturbed about the ongoing construction projects in their cities, which means that the development of transport infrastructure, such as the construction of new Metro corridors, is viewed positively.