Bengaluru Founder Shows Office Empty At 10 AM, Says Traffic ‘Destroying’ Work Productivity

Bengaluru’s traffic chaos is not just eating into commuters’ time—it may also be draining their productivity, an entrepreneur has claimed, sparking a heated debate online. Bala Panneerselvam, founder of Applied AI Studio and the Applied AI Club community, shared a picture of his office at 10:15 AM on LinkedIn, showing the workplace looking deserted. He attributed the empty office to Bengaluru’s relentless traffic snarls, which he said were making it difficult for employees to reach work on time.

According to Panneerselvam, the exhausting commute leaves employees with little energy to perform at their best once they finally reach the office.

"How a Bangalore office looks at 10:15 in the morning. How do we expect to do good work if we don't show up? The problem is not the people. But the effort it takes to show up in the office," said Panneerselvam.

He pointed out that even short journeys can turn into time-consuming ordeals, particularly during peak hours. The constant manoeuvring through congested roads, he argued, leaves commuters mentally and physically drained.

"A 4 km stretch takes 20 mins in a scooter around the HSR area and 30 mins in the car. And peak hours, add another 10 mins. And with all the swirling, dodging random two-wheelers jumping signals, you're no longer fresh when you reach the office," he said.

The commute home, he added, can be equally punishing, with evening traffic often doubling travel time and leaving employees too exhausted to enjoy their personal lives.

"And evening, if you leave after 6, it takes double the time to reach home. Even if you leave at 5 pm, you reach home so tired that you cannot do anything in your personal life. And obviously people show up late the next day."

Panneerselvam also recounted a particularly frustrating journey from Whitefield to HSR Layout. He said it took him two hours to cover just 17 km at around 4 PM, despite it being a non-peak period and with no rain or other disruptions.

"We're absolutely destroying our ability to do good work in this city. If you're so overwhelmed with noise all around you, how do you spend time thinking?"

Social media users said Bengaluru’s punishing commute has become so commonplace that residents have started treating it as an unavoidable part of everyday life.

"It's not only the time. My average daily commute is anywhere between 1.5 and two hours. The potholes and broken roads are terribly uncomfortable," said one user.

Another highlighted the impact on productivity, saying: "Probably more than the time you show up, the loss of productivity is due to being half-dead by the time you show up."

A third user argued that the city’s traffic woes had been normalised, warning that rapid urbanisation without adequate infrastructure could eventually take a severe toll.

"Well, the issue is this has been normalised in Bangalore, and people living/moved there treat the chronic waste of time/ energy/ resources like it's part of life. A city can only take so much in the name of rapid urbanisation or expansion, and without the basic underlying infrastructure, it would eventually crumble like a tower of cards."

Another user shared a similar experience after attending an event in Whitefield.

"I went to an event in Whitefield recently and remember thinking how I had lost 3 hours of a Friday just in commute. Hardly had any energy left to reflect on the sessions and the conversations I had while going back home."