Bengaluru traffic is bad, no news there. Every day, due to heavy congestion, even short distances take long hours to commute. Now, the situation has reached a point where a techie in the city has gone as far as calling it a “hidden tax”. Expressing his frustration on a Reddit post, he said he spends nearly 2.5 months a year in traffic! Scroll on for the post.
Bengaluru Technie Complains About Daily Traffic
A Bengaluru techie took to Reddit to vent about the city’s frustrating traffic. He revealed that he works in Oracle and lives in the JP Nagar area. In the post, he further shared that he earns ₹28 lakhs a year (excluding RSUs), and pays ₹6.5 lakhs in income tax, along with ₹1.4 lakhs in GST. Together, these taxes make up for more than three months of his yearly salary.
He also shared that his office is 14 kilometres from his home, which should take about 30 minutes to reach. But in reality, the commute takes 90 minutes. On top of that, he estimates losing about 2.5 months a year sitting in traffic. According to him, the taxes were originally meant to build better roads, improve commutes, and create smarter cities. However, poor planning and mismanagement often meant the money went elsewhere. In the end, he feels he is paying a “hidden tax” without even having time to reflect on it.
Netizens React To The Post
This post on Reddit quickly went viral all over the internet, and not-so-shockingly, many people are agreeing with him. Several users shared their views on how improving traffic congestion in Bengaluru can help boost productivity of people in the city.
One netizen wrote, “To be honest, most of the bottlenecks are caused by illegal parking on the service road. Just check the Marathahalli Kadubeesanahalli service road once, it’s difficult to walk on that road in the evening. We need to fix ourselves first, then cry about these things on social media.”
One user added, “If you put an engineer working in Bengaluru in any foreign city with cleaner air and no traffic, they will become 20% more efficient. Everyone is coughing, sneezing, and taking leave for children falling ill, but air pollution is still underestimated.”
Another user commented, “You can’t build highways in a congested city like this. Politicians aren’t the only problem. Why doesn’t the central government offer tax breaks for companies to invest in tier-two cities? Population distribution would ease the pressure. Now everyone comes to Bengaluru like bees and expects Dubai-like infrastructure.”
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments below!
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Cover Image Courtesy: Canva Pro/chachastephane (Representative Image)