A community platform of car-pooling towards curbing the traffic problem

Problem

• Bangalore is the most congested city in India, and the 2nd most congested city in the world, according to the TomTom Traffic Index 2022.
• The congestion level in Bangalore is 71%, meaning commuters spend 71% extra time stuck in traffic during peak hours compared to non-peak hours (TomTom Traffic Index 2020).
• Traffic congestion in Bangalore costs the city approximately $5.9 billion annually, in terms of lost productivity, wasted fuel, and increased pollution, according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
• On average, employees in Bangalore spend around 1.5 hours commuting to and from work every day, which translates to around 7.5 hours per week and 30 hours per month, according to a survey conducted by MoveInSync, an employee transportation management platform.

Root Cause

Rapid Urbanization and population growth:

• Bangalore's population grew from 5.4 million in 2001 to 8.5 million in 2011, an increase of 58% (Source: Census of India).
• The number of registered vehicles in Bangalore increased from 27.5 lakhs in 2007 to 72.5 lakhs in 2020, an increase of 163% (Source: Bangalore Traffic Police).

Inadequate public transportation infrastructure:

• Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), the city's primary bus service provider, operates around 6,500 buses, which is only about 25% of the estimated demand (Source: Economic Times).
• The number of daily metro riders in Bangalore was 400,000 in 2020, which is significantly lower than the expected 1 million riders per day (Source: The Hindu).

Poor road planning and management:

• The road density in Bangalore is 9.2 km per 10,000 people, which is lower than the national average of 11.6 km per 10,000 people (Source: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs).
• According to the Bangalore Traffic Improvement Project (B-TRAC) report, 85% of the junctions in Bangalore have inadequate capacity, leading to bottlenecks and congestion (Source: B-TRAC).

Insufficient traffic management systems:

• A study conducted by the Indian Institute of Science found that 90% of the traffic signals in Bangalore do not have a coordinated system, leading to increased congestion (Source: Indian Institute of Science).
• Bangalore has around 900 traffic police personnel, which is significantly lower than the required strength of 5,000 personnel (Source: Bangalore Traffic Police).