Traffic - Telecommute - Hyderabad

Are you stuck in traffic again? Dont know where to hide or where to run. Well, welcome to Hyderabad. Traffic is a night-mare here as it is in some of the bigger cities across the world. Increase in traffic is being attributed to inflow of population thanks to the booming industries in and around Hyderabad, increase in purchasing capacity of the consumers or should we be saying prosumers - who buy that new brand of car or bike the first day its unveiled. There are several other factors like poor town planning (Chandigarh is supposed to be the most well planned city in India - thanks to an architect named Le Corbusier), foolish traffic rules (one-way rules) and others. We cannot ever imagine a shoulder (or emergency lane) on the highways or on the umpteem number of flyovers coming up. In some cases, the main thorough fares are as big as the emergency lanes in other countries. All these point to a booming economy and the FM (our beloved Finance Minister) would be very happy with the "pace" at which things are happening.

But this definitely is an alarming trend leading to a number of health problems including lifestyle diseases, stress, road rage and accidents to note a few. This trend should be cut down by the corporates by taking a few good initiatives.

One thing I noticed was the "Free the Left Lane" campaign being carried out by one of the major corporates near the Hi-tech city. Also, there were these bunch of volunteers from a corporate offering flowers to traffic offenders which is a very heart-warming way of telling people to get their act right. All big deeds start small and the identification of the problem by the corporates and MNCs itself is an encouraging sign. Although a lot needs to be done and many more hands need to come together.

Using colloborative technologies like VOIP, videoconferencing, Skype, Google chat, etc to get the work done is a novel way thanks to the numerous technology innovations coming out. Corporates and MNCs should encourage "work from home" or "telecommuting" for their employees atleast a few days in a month. This will help in increasing the productivity of the employees and also work positively on their psyche. Also, the employees should feel accountable and hence pave the way for more measures being taken up from the hierarchical higher ups.

There are a number of web sites for telecommuting jobs including http://www.tjobs.com/, http://www.telecommute-jobs.com/, etc. If you want to find telecommute jobs in India, you could go to http://www.bharathcontractjobs.com/ or other similar websites.

If you want to know more about traffic in Hyderabad, you can lookup the blog http://trafficinhyderabad.blogspot.com/. Also http://www.htis.in/live.htm for live traffic conditions.

A number of FM radio stations who are cashing in on the use of the idle traffic stuck listeners are also helping the poor ones stuck in traffic by providing updates on conditions, diversions introduced and also alternate routes to take. This a good social initiative by these stations and is commendable.

Car pooling, good rapid transport systems (MMTS?) and a good spread of population is essential. There are very few owned cars on the roads in Singapore (according to a friend) as the Government there taxes heavily those opting for personal transportation in lieu of excellent transportation facilities provided by the system.

We could also take a cue from Malaysian town Putrajaya where most of the Government offices have shifted base due to overcrowding and congestion in its main capital - Kuala Lumpur. Instead of shifting base overnight (like the airport shifted from Begumpet to Shamshabad http://www.hyderabad.aero/), the change should be phased and should not cause more incovenience to the people. What I mean here is shifting offices is fine but the common man should not be affected in the sense that he should not run from one city to another just to submit a small application form. After all, most Hyderabadis are still hapless and poor as compared to their privileged counterparts.