IT professional Nagarjun Kandukuru, 51, looks out of the window of his Bannerghatta Road home in Bengaluru and watches as his 16-year-old son cycles off to music class. The family has never owned a car. Kandukuru, himself, uses a motorcycle to commute to work. “Poorly maintained roads and the traffic make me anxious and that translates into bad moods at home. Good transport is as basic as air and water,” he says. A city’s competitiveness, he adds, should include quality-of-life measures beyond monetary terms.

Ramesh VT, general secretary of Bengaluru’s Outer Ring Road Companies Association, offers an economic perspective on local traffic woes. “The IT sector in India generates $32 billion in annual revenue. An employee works eight hours a day on average. Spending two hours in traffic is losing productivity hours, which I believe is a 10% loss of revenue.”

Development policies and land market conditions in Bengaluru continue to drive the creation of economic subcenters in suburban and peri-urban areas. However, public transport has struggled to keep up with this outward sprawl. The result is longer commutes and increased private vehicle usage. Adverse impacts of this phenomenon hamper access to jobs, labor markets, productivity and livability.

According to the TomTom Traffic Index, Bengaluru is among the world’s most traffic-congested cities. Commutes to and from work comprise the bulk of daily trips in the city, with higher-income employees likely to use motorized two-wheelers and cars. As per 2018 figures, the social cost of traffic congestion in Bengaluru is estimated to be $380 billion annually, equal to 5% of the city’s GDP. However, transit-oriented development (TOD) strategies can help Bengaluru address these challenges while contributing positively to its low-carbon economic growth.

How Can Transit-Oriented Development Help Bengaluru Thrive?

• To address Bengaluru’s mobility challenges, the Government of Karnataka is expanding the metro and suburban rail networks and augmenting the city bus system. The estimated cost of the operational, approved and planned rail lines (totaling 400 kilometers) is nearly $13.2 billion. Studies show that these public transportation investments can create thousands of jobs and four- to seven-fold economic returns.
• To leverage the large investments in mass transit and maximize the economic and quality-of-life benefits for the city, the Government of Karnataka approved the Bengaluru TOD Policy 2022, prepared in line with national policy directives. Bengaluru also launched its first Climate Action and Resilience Plan in November 2023, with TOD as a key element.
• TOD promotes compact development and sustainable modes of transport, effectively decoupling density from traffic congestion, and economic growth from resource use and emissions. It has been used worldwide as an urban development approach to increase population and job densities around transit stations and improve access to jobs and other opportunities, transit ridership, local economic development and revenues, productivity and city competitiveness.

These findings and suggestions are detailed in WRI India’s new working paper, Jobs Near Metro Rail Transit in Bengaluru: Enabling an Accessible and Productive City. The study analyzes the spatial distribution of jobs associated with registered enterprises in the Bengaluru Metropolitan Area and their proximity and densities along the operational and upcoming metro network. It also examines the pull factors, market and regulatory challenges, and enablers for attracting large businesses to locate near metro stations.

Only 28% of the total mapped jobs in the Bengaluru Metropolitan Area are within 500 meters (considered a comfortable walking distance) from the nearest metro station, while 59% are within 1 kilometer and 85% within 2 kilometers.

While transit networks are being extended to connect more residential and job clusters, continuing with an approach where transit only follows development in distant, dispersed locations is resource-intensive and expensive. In addition, Bengaluru should – strategically and proactively – foster job growth along existing or upcoming transit networks and bridge last-mile connectivity gaps. High-quality walking and cycling infrastructure (within 1 kilometer), and efficient feeder services (particularly in the 1-3 kilometer range) are crucial for improving access to workplaces and encouraging a transport mode shift, especially among white-collar workers. 

Bengaluru’s Outer Ring Road Companies Association collaborated with WRI India on commuter surveys and supported the #personal2public (P2P) campaign, a citizen-led initiative by Bangalore Political Action Committee and WRI India. Launched last year, the P2P campaign encourages IT employees along metro corridors to switch to using the metro at least twice a week. According to the commuter survey, which surveyed 3,855 people, 60% commuted using personal vehicles; however, 95% respondents indicated they were keen to shift to the metro if last-mile connectivity improved.

The outskirts of the city are where many IT jobs are situated, but public transport is lacking. People cope by carpooling, working from home or commuting during non-peak hours. “Bengaluru’s professional class lacks a public transport ethos compared to, say, London or New York, where it’s predicated on a system that’s well connected to the outskirts,” says Kandukuru. For example, London’s ”Oyster Pass” is valid for public bicycle-sharing, trains, buses and boats. “That’s the ethos,” he points out, suggesting public transport in Bengaluru must be publicized better. “There’s a bus from my house to the airport running 20 hours a day, costing barely $2.90-3.50, yet few know about it.” Additionally, walking and cycling must have dedicated spaces. “Apart from one or two areas around MG [Mahatma Gandhi] Road, the rest of the city is unpleasant to walk in, despite the year-round good weather.”

The starting point is proper urban planning and implementation of the plan, says Clement Jayakumar, Secretary of Mahadevapura Task Force, a residents’ association. He adds, “Higher densities in TOD zones are one part of development. Policymakers must look at a holistic approach that takes water, power, public spaces and the rest into account as well.”

By joining forces, public and private stakeholders can enable implementation of holistic TOD strategies. The government can play a proactive role by prioritizing job densities near transit in policy planning and regulatory frameworks, upgrading public infrastructure and institutionalizing coordinated action. Businesses, developers and financiers can directly invest in opportunities near transit stations or partner with public agencies to improve urban infrastructure, public spaces and last-mile connectivity between workplaces and transit stations.

A version of this article originally appeared on WRI-India.org.

Shalini Singh was Executive Editor for WRI India.

Radha Chanchani is Senior Manager for WRI India Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.