In a fresh attempt to address the chronic congestion on Bengaluru's Outer Ring Road (ORR), the Bengaluru traffic police (BTP) have proposed that tech parks introduce paid parking for employees. The move aims to discourage the use of private vehicles and encourage alternatives like public transport, carpooling, and company buses.
The proposal was discussed during a stakeholder consultation on Wednesday, which included traffic police officials, civic agencies, representatives from the Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA), and tech park authorities. The meeting was part of ongoing efforts to ease pressure on the city's busiest IT corridor.
According to BTP, free parking inside tech parks has become a significant incentive for employees to drive personal vehicles, exacerbating traffic woes. Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Karthik Reddy noted, "If something is offered for free, we tend to take it. When you put a price on it, there is a probability that people might not."
BTP estimates that 8-10 lakh commuters travel daily on the ORR corridor, which houses over 500 tech companies and 30 tech parks. Under the proposal, companies could charge employees for parking while rewarding those who use BMTC buses, Metro services, or carpooling. Officials suggested that revenue from parking fees could be redirected as incentives for employees opting for public transport.
The initiative comes as the ORR, particularly the Iblur–Sarjapur Road–KR Puram stretch, continues to suffer from severe traffic congestion. Traffic police believe that reducing dependency on single-occupancy vehicles could significantly improve traffic flow.
Measures to Decongest ORR Traffic
Encourage Carpooling
Police highlighted that a major contributor to congestion is the prevalence of single-occupancy vehicles. Many cars entering tech parks carry only one passenger despite being multi-seater. Companies were urged to actively promote voluntary carpooling among employees, described as one of the easiest ways to reduce vehicle numbers.
Tech Park Buses
BTP proposed bus pooling at the tech park level, where large campuses like Ecospace or Ecoworld could organise common transport for employees from similar localities, instead of companies operating separate systems. This could significantly cut the number of vehicles entering the corridor.
BMTC Bus Stations Inside Tech Parks
Tech parks were asked to allocate dedicated space for BMTC buses to originate or terminate inside campuses, reducing long walks from bus stops. Traffic police urged companies to revive the use of BMTC chartered buses. Before the pandemic, nearly 560 such buses operated for tech firms, but the number has dropped to just 105 despite offices reopening fully.
Staggered Timings
Another key proposal involved staggered office entry and exit timings, modelled on systems in Electronics City. Officials noted that congestion peaks between 9-10 am and 5-7 pm, and dispersing employee movement across different timings could ease pressure.
Car-Free Day
BTP proposed a monthly corporate car-free day, where a set of companies would encourage employees to avoid private vehicles on designated days. Officials argued that even a 5-10% reduction in vehicles could considerably ease congestion along the ORR.
Infrastructure Fixes Needed: ORRCA
While welcoming the traffic police's efforts, ORRCA said that behavioural changes cannot happen overnight without major infrastructure improvements. The association noted that the ORR stretch differs from other employment hubs due to varied work schedules, night shifts, and global time-zone dependencies, making uniform mobility solutions difficult.
Manas Das, President of ORRCA, stated, "There is no denying that single-car usage behaviour has to change, but this is not a homogeneous unit. People work across different time zones, customers, and work models." The association emphasised that employees have developed commuting habits over years due to inadequate public transport, poor road conditions, and weak last-mile connectivity.
ORRCA called for simultaneous infrastructure upgrades, including smaller BMTC buses that can enter tech parks, round-the-clock bus services, safer bus stops with shelters, pothole-free roads, and stronger last-mile connectivity. The association urged authorities to improve feeder roads to the ORR and prioritise mobility upgrades over the next six to eight months as Metro connectivity nears completion.
