Corporates promote use of Bengaluru Metro amid return to office push; congestion may worsen, warns traffic police

On October 19, CEOs and business leaders took a metro ride.

A group of corporate executives recently boarded a Metro train from the Pattandur Agrahara Metro station near Whitefield to Byappanahalli Metro Station and back. Some of them experienced the Metro for the first time, leaving their SUVs behind.

The trip was organised by the International Tech Park Bangalore (ITPB), which houses over 60,000 tech employees in the vicinity and now has Metro access.

As more and more corporate firms call their employees back, the ride perhaps gave the CEOs a sense of what their employees can expect. After the ride, the CEOs felt that a few loose ends would have to be tied up to make the Metro attractive to the employees.

Also read: Wipro makes work from office thrice a week mandatory from November 15, warns errant employees of consequences

On October 19, CEOs and business leaders, including Sunil Deshpande, the Delivery Centre Head at TCS, Bengaluru; Srinivasan US, CAO at Société Générale; Gauri Shankar Nagabhushanam, CEO of India Business Parks at CapitaLand Investment; Vikas Dabeer, Senior Director (India operations) at Applied Materials; Amit Patel, Senior Manager at General Motors; and Abhilash Kumar, Senior Vice President (Operations) at First Advantage, took a metro ride.

"Improving last-mile connectivity, enhancing parking space at Metro stations, and addressing frequency during peak hours are matters that could encourage more employees to consider the Metro system as their preferred mode of travel," Nagabhushanam told Moneycontrol.

"By offering a fast and efficient alternative to vehicular travel, the Metro system not only saves valuable time for commuters but also reduces the strain on the city's road infrastructure. With fewer vehicles on the road, we hope that air quality improves, and emissions are substantially reduced, contributing to a more sustainable and eco-friendly urban environment," Nagabhushanam said.

The recently inaugurated Whitefield-Challaghatta Metro corridor has significantly improved the daily commute for thousands of tech workers in the tech hubs of Mahadevapura and Whitefield.

Also read: Whitefield line boosts Bengaluru Metro's average daily ridership by 80K; cuts traffic congestion by 14% 

On October 11, Karnataka transport minister Ramalinga Reddy, M V Rajeev Gowda, vice-chairman of the State Institute for Transformation of Karnataka (State Planning Board), senior government officials, and corporate leaders took BMTC feeder buses from KR Pura Metro station.

Also read: Corporate honchos take a bus ride on Bengaluru's tech corridor Outer Ring Road

While the completion of the Purple Line has brought relief to passengers, six-coach trains are now running at full capacity, leading to complaints about long queues and overcrowding of trains, causing hardship to passengers. However, a shortage of rolling stock is preventing BMRCL from increasing the frequency of train services. To maintain a healthy frequency of three to four minutes, experts say, BMRCL should have one train per kilometre. In Phase 1, BMRCL had 50 trains for 45 km, but there are only 57 trains now, even though the total network length has increased to 73 km.

Also read: Bengaluru Metro's busiest stations revealed; rolling stock shortage affects service frequency

International Tech Park Bengaluru (ITPB) employees in Whitefield will gain direct access to the Pattandur Agrahara Metro station on the Purple Line next year. The construction of the walkway connecting the Pattandur Agrahara Metro Station and ITPB is expected to be completed by December 2024, according to Nagabhushanam. The foot over bridge will be approximately 150 meters in length, connecting the station directly to the Park Square Mall and Gate 1 of ITPB.

In January 2023, BMRCL and ITPB signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

In January 2023, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and ITPB signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide direct access from the concourse level of Pattandur Agrahara Metro station to ITPB through a walkway. The construction of the access infrastructure will be carried out by ITPB as per the designs approved by BMRCL. This will enable around 60,000 employees working at the ITPB campus to access their offices directly from the Metro station without crossing the road, as per a BMRCL statement.

According to Bengaluru traffic police, road traffic is currently at 45-50 percent capacity in the city. M N Anucheth, Joint commissioner of police (Bengaluru traffic), told Moneycontrol, "We are now seeing more traffic on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays because most office-goers with hybrid work models prefer these days to extend their weekends. With offices encouraging employees to return to the office, we expect higher traffic from the first week of January, reaching 60-65 percent."

"The opening of the entire Purple Line Metro corridor (Whitefield – Challagahatta) has reduced traffic in Whitefield and on Old Madras Road. However, there has been no significant reduction in traffic on Outer Ring Road," said Anucheth.

Also read: Traffic cops propose carpooling, shuttle buses to ease congestion on Bengaluru's Outer Ring Road

Anucheth said companies should reintroduce chartered bus services if they are encouraging employees to return to office. "If private establishments and companies want employees to return to the office, they should also provide shared transport facilities such as buses" he said.

"Many tech firms and IT parks that used to provide chartered services to their employees stopped doing so post Covid," he said.

The traffic police have also proposed carpooling and shuttle buses to reduce congestion on Outer Ring Road.

Manas Das, President of ORRCA (Outer Ring Road Companies' Association), told Moneycontrol: "We urged employees to use a combination of different modes of transport, including public transport". He noted that it's up to individual companies to decide whether to ask employees to return to the office.

On the reduction in hiring BMTC's chartered buses, he said that most companies prefer smaller AC buses, but BMTC primarily operates larger buses. "Some companies provide bus and Metro passes to their employees to encourage the use of public transport. However, if the distance from the bus stop to their campus is 1-2 km, most employees are reluctant to use public transport" said Manas.

BMRCL officials are ready to collaborate with corporate firms to facilitate bulk pass issuance for employees. For instance, Applied Materials has already procured 500 Metro smart cards for its employees.

Also read: Bengaluru Metro to enable private firms to recharge employees' smart cards

A S Shankar, Executive Director of BMRCL (operations and maintenance), told Moneycontrol, "We are already in talks with some companies that have shown interest in obtaining bulk passes. For instance, if they pay Rs 2,500 per employee per month, say for 500 employees, we can recharge it for them."

He said that the daily ridership is currently at 7-7.5 lakh, and after the opening of the entire Purple Line, ridership has increased by 80,000.

"ITPB has played a crucial role in organising meetings between its various clients and BMRCL officials, facilitating large-scale purchases, and addressing corporate inquiries" said Nagabhushanam.

Also read: First-person account: A 43-km Metro ride from Bengaluru's tech hub Whitefield for Rs 60