Commute Speed Gone Up From 14-18 Kmph To 20-22 Kmph: Bengaluru Traffic Commissioner MA Saleem

Ban on medium and heavy goods vehicles entering the city in peak hours, however, this has reduced traffic by 20-22 per cent, the Bengaluru traffic chief said.

Representative image of Bengaluru traffic snarls.

Bengaluru accommodates a total vehicular population of over 11 million, which also has the highest traffic density compared to any city in the country, thereby leading to severe traffic congestion in several parts of the city. After motorists faced harrowing times commuting in Bengaluru and that made headlines, the Special Traffic Commissioner of Bengaluru, Dr MA Saleem, stated that the department has been working towards the reduction of traffic snarls for the last two to three months.

He further said that the commute speed has gone up in the city to 20-22 kph from 14-18 kph. One of the reasons for the increase in commute speed in the city is the ban on medium and heavy goods vehicles entering the city in peak hours, however, this has reduced traffic by 20-22 per cent, Bengaluru traffic chief said.

Meanwhile, lack of parking space has become one of the major issues in Bengaluru, especially after people started to use their own transport after the pandemic. The traffic department along with the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) has prepared a comprehensive parking policy for Bengaluru, as said by Saleem quoted during a Twitter Space conducted by Times of India on Saturday.

He further said that providing multi-level car parking facilities is the solution to bring down issues related to parking issues and smooth movement of traffic in some parts of the city.

"DULT has prepared a comprehensive parking policy for Bengaluru. Specifically, construction of multi-level parking facilities has been envisaged and few of them have already come up. So far, we have got 2 multi-level car parking and one is ready for commissioning. BMTC has created a lot of multi-level car parking facilities in the transit hubs. But, these are insufficient. Multi-level car parking is the solution," said the top cop of traffic department.

With an increase in vehicular traffic post-pandemic, the requirement for parking facilities has gone up by many folds, said Saleem.