Crawl, stop, repeat: The rough road to school in Bengaluru

It was not the first time that Kashvee, a grade 8 student of a school located on State Highway 35 near Dommasandra Circle, had consoled a nine-year-old boy sitting next to her on the school bus.

“He didn’t tell us that he wanted to use the restroom, but kept crying. He thought he would reach home in time, but we were stuck at the same point on the road for 20 minutes,” Kashvee explained.

She said children breaking down on her school bus had become a frequent occurrence. Helpers on school buses located in the Varthur, Gunjur, and Dommasandra areas in the eastern part of Bengaluru say this issue persists on many buses.

There is one trigger for all this: prolonged congestion on SH-35 and connecting roads, leaving the buses stranded. Complaints of migraine and nausea are common. Some girls say it is a nightmare during periods. Some feel claustrophobic and refuse to stay inside the bus, said helpers who spoke to The Hindu.

“The dust, smoke, and constant honking makes sitting in one place unbearable,” Kashvee said.

In the last two years, traffic congestion in the area has grown multifold, with frequent instances of prolonged congestion going viral on social media and drawing criticism.

Multiple problems

Different authorities blame the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd. (KRDCL) for delaying the widening of SH-35 and Varthur Kodi elevated corridor works. However, a recent Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) analysis of traffic trends in the area suggests that the problem is layered and that multiple factors contribute to the congestion.

While the Varthur-Gunjur stretch is a nightmare, congestion is not an issue specific to only this area. However, while in most other areas regular commuters suffer the congestion on the stretches surrounding educational institutions, here children getting stranded in buses has emerged as a major issue.

Impact on academics

Kashvee explained that by the time they reach home, it is mostly 4.30 p.m. to 5 p.m., and on bad days, it can 6 p.m. “Such schedules leave us with no time for extracurricular activities, and our only option is Sundays,” she said.

Sunitha, a parent, points out that this leaves little time for parents to focus on their children, especially working parents. “Beyond studies, we don’t get to speak to them about anything. Because of fear of traffic, children have to start early in the morning the next day,” she said.

The effect has also led schools cutting down on a few activities. Nooraine Fazal, founding managing trustee and CEO, Inventure Academy, said: “Long traffic hours have taken a toll on the health and studies of hundreds of children in our school. By the time children reach home, they are tired and unable to focus on studies. Also, long hours in the bus have made them irritable and they experience mood swings. This further leads to harsh responses from children when parents and teachers advise them or ask them questions related to academics.”

Ms. Nooraine added, “We have stopped extracurricular activities such as sports and cooking classes held after school hours. It was done to avoid peak hours and tackle traffic jams.”

In a picture of contrast, in the Central Business District (CBD) and surrounding areas, regular commuters face challenges from school buses and school zones, as unlike schools on the outskirts, parking challenges and mixed-vehicle movement persists within the city. 

Maneuvering schools

According to traffic heat maps, after 2.30 p.m., congestion gradually escalates around school zones. The Hindu reviewed the maps around schools in Koramangala, Indiranagar, CBD, and Ashoknagar, which revealed that traffic slows down after 2 p.m., nearly doubling the travel time across the stretches.

For example, the commute from Mother Teresa road to Shoolay Circle, a stretch of about one km, usually takes four to five minutes. However, post 3 p.m., the stretch takes at least eight minutes to cover. A similar pattern is observed on Museum Road after Ashirwad signal, with its ripple effect observed on Rest House road and adjoining stretches.

Charan Raj, a regular commuter on the stretch, explained that police are not deployed near schools to manage traffic. “The main reason that both of these stretches see traffic is because of haphazard parking by parents and private school vans. The congestion can be reduced if the police oversee traffic movement,” he said. “Instead of managing vehicle movement, we see the traffic police stationed near the signal next to Shoolay Circle catching commuters, while ignoring their basic duty of managing traffic,” he emphasised.

Incidentally, BTP data shows that on-ground or contact enforcement has increased to 14% this year, compared to an average of 5% in the last three years. According to BTP sources, traffic officers have been allowed to catch violators during non-peak hours.

Charan Raj, whose work involves frequent travelling during afternoon hours, said the spillover of traffic from school zones onto arterial and sub-arterial roads causes delays. “I try to avoid traffic by accessing connecting and interior roads, but even then the commute time doesn’t drop. This delay on the road causes me to do an extra hour of work every day,” he said.

In residential layouts

Deeksha C., resident of HAL, said that traffic on Malleshpalya 5th Main road and surrounding stretches increases during the afternoon, while these lanes are primarily residential roads.

“Near Kaggadasapura lake and Vigyan Nagar, there are several big schools, but it’s a residential area. Every single day, from 7.30 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. and around 3.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m., the inner and main roads are clogged and everyone is stuck. The school buses start using connecting residential roads like Maruthinagar because the roads are too narrow on 5th Main,” Deeksha said.

A similar issue persists on Koramangala interior roads and Srinivagilu road, where school buses are parked along the stretch. Sameera Rajan, resident of Koramangala, explained that congestion is bad on Srinivagilu road because over 30 school buses are stationed within a short distance.

“Even when the stretch was being whitetopped, the school buses occupied half the road, causing prolonged congestion. School authorities and the traffic police should come up with micro-planning to ensure that the regular commuters don’t face the brunt of traffic induced by improper management,” she said.

Sameera stressed that residents face the actual impact of non-management of traffic around school zones, as, for them, even short-distance travel takes nearly 30 minutes, leading to exhaustion.

Why does congestion persist?

According to the Bengaluru Traffic Police analysis, on most days, SH-35 overtakes the Outer Ring Road (ORR) to be the most congested stretch in the city. The BTP calculates congestion length on a stretch by adding the traffic queue length of all connecting roads to a particular focused stretch, which in this case is SH-35.

So, the analysis indicates that it is not just civic works that induce congestion, but also traffic on connecting roads and the condition of these roads that is escalating the issue. R.K. Misra, independent director of B-SMILE, explained that central to the issue is limited road infrastructure for a rapidly growing area, coupled with very poor road infrastructure.

For instance, according to data, Sarjapur and ORR have very low road density, which is pegged at 8 to 10 km/sq km, compared to other parts of the city. Ideally, a highly populated part should have a road density of 25 to 30 km/sq km.

Karthik Reddy, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said they are restricting the entry of heavy vehicles during peak hours, while restrictions are also being imposed from 3 p.m. for heavy vehicles. “At every congestion point we deploy officers, while heavy goods vehicles are being stopped at the entry of the road,” he said.

However, another traffic officer said that not all heavy vehicles can be stopped at that hour. Gopal M. Byakod, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), South and East divisions, said that while SH-35 is an exception where goods vehicles are now being stopped at the entry point, the BTP doesn’t have the power to restrict movement during afternoon hours.

The same issue makes congestion within the city limits a challenge, as no essential commodity-carrying vehicles can be stopped during noon hours.

So, in the interior, especially in areas around the CBD, congestion escalates with all types of vehicles, including goods vehicles, school buses, government buses, and regular commuters, being on the roads in the afternoon. With the increased number of big vehicles, the problem escalates for regular commuters.

Another officer explained that in school zones within the city, most schools don’t have parking infrastructure within their campuses, unlike schools on the city fringes.

“A mix of vehicles like private school vans, school buses, and vehicles of parents, which include both two-wheelers and four-wheelers, clog the school zones and adjoining roads. As there is no parking infrastructure, vehicles are parked on the roads, which reduces the actual carriageway leading to slow-moving traffic and bottlenecks as well,” he said.

The officer further said that many schools in the city centre are very old, from a time when Bengaluru didn’t have as much traffic. “The road infrastructure has remained the same for decades, while population density in each area has grown. Now, these schools cannot be asked to create parking within campuses or fines be levied on them because the vehicle numbers have grown,” he said.

Is there a solution?

D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary of KAMS (Karnataka Associated Managements of Schools), said that only micro-level planning after assessing specific problems can solve the issue.

“We have created a proposal that schools within the city can adopt. Identify large empty spaces elsewhere, where children can be moved for parents to pick them up. This will limit private vehicles around school zones and reduce congestion to a certain extent,” he said.

In addition to this, as a general solution for congestion within Bengaluru, the BTP has proposed imposing restrictions on heavy vehicles within the city throughout the day.

“Discussions with stakeholders are ongoing at the police station-level. Once the inputs are in, we will implement the system, which will curb the movement of heavy vehicles, largely clearing 30% of the traffic,” a BTP official said.

However, Charan Raj said that the BTP has to increase its deployment, even if it means that it has to compromise on contact enforcement.

(with inputs from Rashmi Patil)