Tale of 42 schools: 40k Bengaluru students lose 53 days to commute, says study

Five locations — Dommasandra Circle, Gunjur, Varthur Kodi, Vibgyor Road-Kundalahalli, and Gran Carmen — have been flagged as critical bottlenecks requiring targeted, time-bound intervention.

In its study conducted between Dommasandra Circle and Varthur Kodi, Inventure Academy, located near Dommasandra Circle, said the average daily travel time for school buses has risen by 22 per cent in just two years — from 92 minutes in 2024-25 to 112 minutes in 2026-27 — with afternoon journeys hit hardest, climbing from 53 to 65 minutes. The corridor serves a network of 42 schools, over 1,000 buses and more than 40,000 bus users, with mapping still ongoing.

According to the data, bus speeds in the area now average just 9.2 km per hour in the afternoons, with the slowest routes crawling at 6.4 km/hour — barely faster than an adult’s walking pace of 5 km/hr. “On some stretches, a 4.1 km trip is taking 36 minutes. Sixty per cent of trips now arrive after their scheduled time, and 15 per cent of buses run at least half an hour late. Thursdays are the worst, with average journeys stretching to 76 minutes.”

The study was triggered after Ritish Reddy, CEO of Zluri, a software management firm, last week posted about his daughter being stuck in a traffic gridlock for two hours to cover a distance of just 5 kilometers on Varthur Road.

After the post went viral, many frustrated parents echoed, stating that they are among those who are silently suffering.

2+ hours. Every single day. That’s how long kids from Whitefield spend on Varthur Road for a 5km commute. My own daughter is stuck right now as I post this. Whitefield deserves better than this. @blrcitytraffic @DKShivakumar @krishnabgowda @PCMohanMP @MALimbavali #Varthur pic.twitter.com/GMXfG5mrsS

— Ritish Reddy (@itsritish) September 17, 2026

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Experts attribute the crisis to a disproportionate people-to-road ratio, as the surrounding areas of the stretch inhabited by IT employees have grown exponentially in the past 10 years, but few measures were taken to expand road infrastructure.

The issue is far from being solved, as a flyover proposed in the area in 2019 saw only 12 per cent completion in seven years, with land acquisition pending.

The report attributes the gridlock to a combination of factors: potholed and waterlogged roads, unfinished construction, a temporary closure on Club Road diverting traffic onto already-strained routes, and incomplete flyover work at Dommasandra Circle.

The report pointed out that the network is vulnerable to corridor-wide breakdowns rather than isolated snarls. Live traffic captures on September 17 showed congestion simultaneously across more than a dozen hotspots, including Varthur, Gunjur, Kadubeesanahalli and Dommasandra Circle.

Schools said they have already exhausted operational fixes — reviewing routes, deploying buses of different sizes, encouraging shared transport over private cars, and using GPS tracking to plan dispersal. They said infrastructure fixes now rest with civic authorities. Inventure Academy’s transport data shows 80 per cent of its community already uses school transport, with an average fleet occupancy of 69 per cent.

What traffic police say

A traffic police officer said that the pending work of the elevated corridor between Varthur and Gunjur has been one of the reasons for the delay. “The two-km corridor was awarded to Hyderabad-based Nagabhushana and Co in March 2019 with a two-year deadline. But the project itself is yet to take off. In the meantime, several apartment complexes, schools and commercial establishments have come up in the past seven years, and it has led to traffic chaos,” he said.

Now, Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL) has undertaken the project. Yet, there have been no signs of any progress.

Leader of Opposition R Ashoka takes a dig at govt

After the viral post, Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA R Ashoka last week launched a scathing attack on the Congress-led state government over the severe traffic congestion in Bengaluru, specifically targeting the state’s flagship ‘Brand Bengaluru’ initiative.

“Is this your “Brand Bengaluru”, CM @DKShivakumar and Bengaluru Development Minister @krishnabgowda aware? Four kilometres taking 2.5 hours, schoolchildren trapped in traffic on the morning of their mid-term exams. While you make grand claims about transforming Bengaluru, children are sitting helplessly in school buses, watching the clock and fearing they will miss their exams. This is the reality of the Bengaluru your @INCKarnataka government has delivered,” he posted on X.

He alleged SH-35 has become a symbol of the administration’s complete lack of urgency. “Craters, dust, bottlenecks, and heavy vehicles have turned the Varthur–Gunjur stretch into a daily nightmare. You can conduct as many review meetings as you want and issue as many statements as you like, but a review meeting does not repair a road and a press statement does not move traffic. What is even more shameful is that parents were reportedly forced to abandon school buses and take their children on two-wheelers through the gridlock just to reach their examination halls,” he said, describing the situation when the government loses sight of basic governance.

Curbs to heavy vehicles during school hours

Bengaluru East City Corporation Commissioner D S Ramesh said the government is filling potholes near Gunjur junction, Varthur junction and main roads and instructed the police to take action regarding changes to traffic regulations wherever required. He said that he had discussed with the Traffic Police the estimated daily volume of vehicles using the road, restrictions on the movement of heavy vehicles, and alternative traffic routes to facilitate the smooth movement of school buses.

The Whitefield traffic police on Thursday said that they have restricted heavy goods vehicles during school commuting hours.

“Considering the prevailing road conditions, traffic volume and movement of schoolchildren, heavy goods vehicles are being temporarily restricted along the Varthur–Gunjur stretch during school hours,” the police said.