Bangalore Mirror

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curbed

Manipal Hospital

In times of economic slowdown when techies fear losing jobs, Bengaluru traffic has become another burden. On average, city techies spend close to five hours in traffic every day, spending nearly 20 hours travelling. In June,had extensively written about how techies are moving closer to their workplaces to cut down their travel time. However as this might not be the most feasible option for many, techies are now searching jobs based on their home locations. Some are even giving up good opportunities fearing the Bengaluru traffic. Picking jobs closer to home, they believe, will reduce stress and help them spend more time with their families.resident of Electronics City Phase 2 said, “Previously I used to drive 80 km to work, spending around six hours in travelling, then nine hours at work.This left me with no time to spend at home and family. I decided to give up that job and began looking for something closer to home. Now I travel only 22 km to and fro every day and manage to save ample time and spend it with family.”Another techierecalls a friend giving up a job having deterred by the commute time. “A friend of mine had got anfrom a high profile tech company based in Hebbal but since he lived in Electronics City, he did not take the offer and instead waited for some more time. He now works with another tech company, much closer to his residence.”gave up his four year old job as the commute to work lead him to have a stressed lifestyle. He says, “I now spend only 15 minutes commuting to work.During my search, I had got a lucrative offer from Manyata Tech park but I had to refuse it as I did not want to stress over travelling to work.”When applying for a new job, IT profession Raj Shekhar Singh always check the location of the office. “A year ago, I had a few offers from the Outer Ring Road and Whitefield-based tech companies but I refused them as I was not willing to spend time in traffic. The hassle of travelling during peak hours with surge pricing and lack of cabs during rains, is stressful.”techie, says that keeping in mind the IT company cluster, the government should have planned a metro in Whitefield and through the ORR. This would havethe chaos at Silk Board. This is absolute poor planning. “Techies have started staying and sleeping in dorm rooms to avoid travelling in Bengaluru traffic. If we had metro connectivity planned prioritising the IT clusters, such a situation would not have arrived,” he said.Dr. Bhupendra Chaudhry, Consultant Psychiatrist atsays that he sees a number of patients everyday suffering from stress, anxiety and depression, and spending long hours in traffic is a contributing factor. He suggests, “In big cities, everyone has a demanding life and long hours in traffic can add to the stress which can cause unhappiness, dissatisfaction among people and can even result in anxiety and depression. While not every case has a similar solution but people must try and avoid peak hour travel. One can reach to work early and use the time for exercises and other things.”