'1 hour 45 mins from Bellandur to Bengaluru Airport': Mohandas Pai reacts to commute story

Bengaluru residents report a travel time of up to 1 hour 45 minutes to the airport, citing potholes and construction, triggering a renewed debate on traffic.

Bengaluru commuters are enduring up to 1 hour and 45 minutes travel time along the 50-kilometre Outer Ring Road (ORR) stretch from Bellandur to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). The extended commute is being blamed on a combination of pothole-ridden roads, ongoing Namma Metro construction, and relentless traffic congestion.

Despite recent road upgrades in Bengaluru, frustrations persist as the metro project extends into 2027, prompting discussions on the city's traffic issues and governance.(ANI Grab )

“Travelled from Bellandur to Bengaluru airport just now. It took 1 hour 45 minutes! Insane. Plus the roads are all dug up and pot hole ridden. Sorry to say but I think Bangalore has the worst roads of India. This is not sustainable. It will create a host of health problems for commuters in the next 10 years,” a social media post noted on Saturday. It quickly gained over 130K views and 2,700 likes.

“Bangalore guys. I love your city, been visiting it since the 70’s but you guys need to really do something about your roads and the commute times. See the travel time now in Hyderabad 1 hour, for 40 kms into the heart of the city. (I’m still in the taxi),” the same user, Naresh @TopDriverIndia posted separately.

The post garnered a renewed discussion on Bengaluru's traffic, with notable figure TV Mohandas Pai, the former CFO of Infosys joining in the conversation. “Minister @DKShivakumar @PriyankKharge some feed back. This is not the result of growth but huge corruption and bad governance. Please help @GBA_office @GBAChiefComm cannot we have roads without potholes? This is not AI work but done for more than 200 years!” Pai wrote.

However, many Bengaluru residents noted that 1 hour and 45 minutes is actually a reasonable time to reach the airport and that they have experiences longer commutes. “Even when the roads were not dug up and roads were empty it used to take 55 mins to reach airport from Bellandur and in another decade, there would be a full fledged metro line running too,” a user replied.

“1 hour 45 mins is pretty good to be honest. Try on weekdays,” another said.

“Wow...you're lucky you made it in 1.45 hours...it should have been 2.5 hours at least,” one more noted.

Several others criticised the post and said the user was singling Bengaluru out while many other cities suffer the same fate. “Looks like people visit Bangalore just to blame it. Disgusting,” a user replied.

“London is also like this, so it is ok,” another said.

“Don’t come back,” one more user commented.

Despite civic agencies filling thousands of potholes and allocating ₹1,100 crore for road upgrades, the situation remains grim. The metro construction along key stretches, originally aimed at easing traffic, is now projected to extend into 2027, adding to public frustration and logistical challenges for daily commuters.