Anyone who’s been to Delhi. Bangalore or Mumbai pre-Covid knows the endless struggles of the never-ending traffic congestion in these major cities. It is evident that the traffic congestion levels in these cities are slowly reaching their pre-Covid mark.
According to a report by a global location technology specialist, Mumbai ranked second in the world, Bengaluru sixth, Delhi eighth, and Pune at number 16 among 416 cities across 56 countries on traffic congestion level parameters. Moscow recorded the maximum congestion across the globe in 2020.
The fact that three of our major cities were part of the top ten heavily congested cities of the world is alarming. While this can be taken as a sign of a quicker economic revival, it can also mean that people are using their personal vehicles instead of using public transport during a global pandemic.
The tenth edition of the global traffic index released on Wednesday said the overall congestion level in Mumbai was 53%, which was 12% less than that of 2019. Bengaluru saw a 20% drop in traffic congestion even as New Delhi saw a barely 9% reduction in congestion during the pandemic-hit year compared to the previous year. Pune recorded a 17% dip in traffic congestion last year compared to 2019. In 2019, Bengaluru topped the list among all the cities across the globe while Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi came 4th, 5th, and 8th, respectively.
The road traffic trend shows that there was “zero” congestion on Mumbai roads in April soon after the nationwide strict lockdown was imposed. The traffic on Mumbai roads started increasing from June and has been going up steadily. The trend seen in Bengaluru corroborates this. The city with high concentration of IT companies where work from home has become the new normal has seen the maximum decline in congestion level at 51% compared to 71% in 2019.
According to reports, corona virus-induced lockdowns are the reason for global cities to see a fall in congestion levels for the 1st time in 10 years.