Cyberabad Traffic Police plan to ferry IT employees to offices to avoid gridlocks: Jt CP Joel Davis

Hyderabad: To alleviate traffic issues and reduce the volume of vehicles on the roads, Cyberabad Traffic Police have mooted the idea of a centralized transport system to ferry IT employees to their offices from their residential localities across the city.

Speaking to the NewsMeter, Joint Commissioner (Traffic) D Joel Davis said around 8-10 lakh IT employees are working in various companies in the IT cluster. “Because of affordability, a majority of them stay around 20 km away from the IT cluster in Cyberabad.

Since January, several IT companies have asked their employees to work from the office for various reasons. Due to this, the majority of the IT employees who worked from home post-COVID started traveling to their offices,” he said.

The Jt CP said the volume of vehicles plying on the roads leading to the IT cluster was high between 8 am and 1 pm every day on various stretches as a major portion of the IT employees usually attend their work shifts. Due to this, vehicular traffic usually will be high to the IT cluster from JNTU to the biodiversity park stretch, Allwyn crossroads, Miyapur, Hafeezpet and Kondapur, Gopannapalle, Gachibowli, Lingampally, Manikonda and Nanakramguda, he said.

Joel Davis said that the volume of vehicular traffic was high every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday as the majority of the IT employees prefer to avail their weekly offs on Saturday and Sunday or either Sunday and Monday. Moreover, the volume of traffic was high between 3 pm and 8 pm as several IT employees ended their day schedule and hit the roads to reach their houses.

“Usually, the rainfall in monsoon will be in the evenings, after 5 pm. Due to this vehicular traffic increases on the IT corridor as most of them stall their vehicles to prevent themselves from getting drenched. Subsequently, the vehicular users occupy most of the lanes on the road leading to a traffic gridlock in many parts of the IT corridor. If the rains are beyond 9 pm, the vehicular traffic will be less as most of the employees will reach their houses by that time. Considering all these factors, a centralized transport system was mooted with the IT and ITES companies to ensure a hassle-free journey for the employees,” the Jt CP said.

What is a centralized transport system?

Joel Davis said the Society for Cyberabad Security Council (SCSC), in collaboration with the Cyberabad Traffic Police, have been organizing a series of cluster meetings with IT and ITES companies and educational institutions to discuss effective traffic decongestion strategies in the busy IT corridor. The implementation of a centralized transport system is aimed at streamlining public transportation, improving efficiency, and enhancing connectivity across different regions.

During the cluster meetings, the IT and ITES companies are suggested to arrange transportation facilities from their home to the workplace to reduce the volume of vehicular traffic on the IT corridor, instead of operating cabs/SUVs for small groups of employees. For instance, around 1 lakh IT employees are working in Raheja MindSpace, Raidurg. Most of the companies have already arranged buses for their employees to ferry them after their work.

“We have requested the IT companies in and around Raheja MindSpace to pick the employees of various companies in and around their vicinity from their houses and ferry them to their respective offices to reduce vehicular traffic in the IT cluster. In principle, the IT companies have given their nod to allow the employees of other companies and they are working on a module to be followed to provide transportation for the employees,” the Jt CP said.

Traffic Marshals

To alleviate the traffic situation in Cyberabad, all IT parks in the vicinity have been requested to depute a few security marshals during high traffic times, said Joel Davis. The decision to request that IT parks depute traffic marshals was made after consulting with the CEOs of the IT parks, who are also key stakeholders in the matter. Few companies have already been deputing traffic marshals to aid the police during the peak hours of the day from 8.30 am to 11.30 am and 4.30 pm to 8.30 pm, he said.

To enhance traffic management, the SCSC has provided 50 traffic marshals, while Raheja MindSpace has contributed an additional 30 traffic marshals. These trained personnel will assist in regulating traffic flow and ensuring smoother movement within the IT campuses. At present, the strength of the traffic marshals stands at 80. Over 30 traffic marshals are being trained by the Cyberabad traffic police. The companies would pay salaries for the traffic marshals and steps are being taken to increase the number of traffic marshals to 300, the Jt CP said.

Staggering timings suggested for educational institutions

Joel Davis said that apart from IT companies, Cyberabad also has various educational institutions like Oakridge, Delhi Public School, and CHIREC International School. The traffic police urged educational institutions to consider implementing staggered work timings for primary, secondary, and higher-class students.

The plan was mooted to reduce congestion at peak hours, he said and added that the educational institutions have been requested to coordinate with the local traffic police regarding vehicle parking on the roads to avoid traffic congestion.