NEW DELHI: India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with a rapidly increasing population of 1.4 billion people, making it the world's most populous country.
However, this growth comes with its own set of challenges, and one of the most pressing ones is the traffic congestion. As more people flock to urban areas in search of better opportunities, the number of vehicles on the road has risen drastically, which ultimately leads to long hours of waiting in traffic jams.
According to a new report, Indian employees may be working fewer days from office due to the hybrid work models, but they are spending more time commuting as compared to the pre-pandemic days as the distance to the workplace and the traffic have surged.
The report '2023 on Wheels: How India Moved In Sync' published by office commute platform MoveInSync said that an average Indian spent 59 minutes to travel 20 kilometers one way to work last year in important metropolitan cities, compared with 51 minutes to cover 17 kilometers during the pre-pandemic days.
Astonishingly, Indian employees spent 8 % of their time (almost two hours) traveling to and fro office when they were mandated to work from the office. They spent 15 % more time on the roads as compared to the pre-pandemic days, contributing to the loss of time.
It is worth noting that Bengaluru, India's foremost IT hub, is the second-most traffic congested city in the world. For instance, it takes around 30 minutes to cover a distance of 10 km within the periphery of the city, whereas the same distance can be covered in less than 13 minutes in Dubai. This is as per a study by TomTom Traffic Index.
But, Bengaluru is not the only place suffering from this major problem as major Indian cities also go through massive traffic woes.
Besides wasting time and irritating commuters, traffic congestion also has severe economic and environmental consequences.
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