Reportage

India: after the Covid, return of the legendary Bangalore traffic jams

Audio 01:24

Traffic jam in Bangalore last January, on the eve of the start of a weekend curfew due, at the time, to a sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 infections in the city.

AFP - MANJUNATH KIRAN

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

It is a sign of economic recovery, but also an ordeal for the inhabitants of the city of Bangalore, in the south of the subcontinent.

The legendary traffic jams of India's Silicon Valley are back.

While taxis rub their pockets, some workers regret the blessed era of telecommuting.

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With our correspondent in New Delhi,

For India as a whole, Bangalore, with its rampant growth, had become synonymous with the country's worst traffic jams.

After three years of relative calm linked to confinements and curfews, the verdict of the inhabitants is clear: traffic has returned to its pre-pandemic level.

Avani, 32, works in a large computer group in the city.

For two weeks, I have been asked to come to the office three days a week.

It used to take me ten minutes, but now it's over an hour.

I have to get up at 5 am to feed the family.

I almost come to regret the time of the Covid!

Average driving speed in #bangalore: 10 km/hr .. my walking speed as per @fitbit: 12:35 km/hr .. may be I should start walking everyday 15 kms to office.

Will save gym and fuel money too.. #bangaloretraffic #Traffic pic.twitter.com/hsLuOQTi6O

— Amit Goel (@amitgoel1287) November 13, 2019

Some Indian tech companies have tentatively opened up to telecommuting amid the health crisis, but not enough to fundamentally lighten the city's roads.

Raghavendra, 24, a tuk-tuk driver, was waiting for the return of traffic like the arrival of the monsoon!

During the Covid, it was very difficult.

Sometimes I stayed whole days at home for lack of customers.

For the past few weeks, using applications like Uber or Ola, I have been doing 40 to 50 races a day!

It was high time that activity resumed.

If there is one thing on which all the inhabitants agree, it is the need to develop public transport.

The pandemic should have been used to extend the Bangalore metro and advance in water and electricity works which are worsening traffic jams,

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►Also listen: Heat wave in India: the survival of the poorest threatened by global warming

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