Bengaluru is the second most congested city among major metros of Southeast Asia, including Delhi, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Hanoi and Manila, warns a recent survey. And the situation will only get worse if measures are not taken to check it.
The survey by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) measures the response from 300 commuters in each of the growing cities — New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru — and compares them with indicators from global cities in Southeast Asia.
According to the analysis, road congestion in peak hours in the four Indian cities averages at 149%, making commuting that much harder. Commuters spend 1.5 times longer to travel a given distance in peak hours when compared with non-peak hour travel time.
The survey shows that 89% of the respondents in Bengaluru and Kolkata plan to buy a car in the next five years, which is set to worsen the situation. However, reducing peak hour congestion is a huge challenge considering that about half of the population in these cities plans to buy cars in the next five years.