Impractical, say Outer Ring Road tech firms on staggered timings

Following the massive traffic nightmare that the city, particularly the Outer Ring Road (ORR), saw on September 27, discussions about IT companies introducing staggered timings have resurfaced.

While some companies already have a staggered timing system in place, at least on paper, it is not practical for many to adopt the same, explained a senior director at a multinational technology company that has an office along the ORR.

“It is not a practical solution because there are several teams in each company, especially multinational companies, that work around the clock and serve clients that live in different time zones. Having a blanket staggered entry and exit timing would not help them,” he said.

However, the Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) representatives explained that a system was already in place in member companies.

“Some companies can, while others cannot. Most companies are already working in shifts or hybrid mode where employees can go to their offices based on need or convenience,” he added.

To reduce the number of personal vehicles, some companies along the ORR have also explored tie-ups with private transport service operators to ferry their employees twice a day from and to the nearest metro station, which was mostly Baiyappanahalli in the past. After the missing link between Baiyappanahalli and KR Pura was established, this service is now slowly shifting to the KR Pura metro station. 

M N Anucheth, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said that the task is to get entire tech parks to adopt a staggered entry and exit timing mechanism, and not individual companies, since many already follow a similar system.

Now, the ORRCA and its member companies have tied up with BPAC and WRI India’s Personal2Public initiative, along with the BMTC, to encourage their employees to make the switch to the metro and board the feeder buses to reach their offices at least twice a week