Stagger work hrs to ease traffic

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has suggested to all multinational and national companies with offices in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) that they stagger their work hours to prevent traffic congestion while construction is underway at the DN Nagar-BKC Metro-2B corridor. MMRDA is the special planning authority of BKC.

The staggered office timings, says MMRDA, will help smoothen traffic movement in the area. Around two lakh employees commute to BKC for work every day, translating to 20,000 vehicles daily. MMRDA plans to start civil construction work on the DN Nagar-BKC Metro by February 2018, and one lane on both sides of BKC will be barricaded for it. Apart from Metro-2B, construction work for a flyover connecting Kala Nagar junction to Bandra-Worli Sea Link is also slated to begin in 2018.

MMRDA's Additional Metropolitan Commissioner Pravin Darade said, "We have suggested to the association of all the offices to consider staggering of office timings between 8 am and 11 am. This will help ease traffic during Metro construction work. This is a model followed world-wide, and it always helps developing countries."

"MMRDA has suggested staggering office hours and we have taken it positively," says Jayesh Shah from BKC property owners association. "We think it is a step towards right direction."

In 2015, the Bombay High court had directed the Maharashtra government to consider changing the timings of office, colleges and schools in order to ease traffic during peak-hours.

Ashish Shah, who works at BKC, said, "The concept of staggered work hours is more or less followed by many organisations. In my organisation too, we have to report between 8.30 am and 10 am; employees can leave work according to their reporting time."

Meanwhile, earlier this week MMRDA shortlisted Simplex Infrastructure for the construction of the 23.5 km-long Metro-2B that has an estimated ridership of 8 lakh commuters daily. The line has been divided into two parts: Dahisar-DN Nagar Metro-2A and DN Nagar-Mandale Metro-2B, which is being constructed in two phases between DN Nagar-BKC and BKC-Mandale.

Traffic woes

• Two lakh commuters to BKC translate to 20,000 vehicles daily
• Construction work on DN Nagar-BKC Metro will start by Feb 2018
• One lane on both sides of BKC will be barricaded for it
• Work on flyover connecting Kala Nagar junction and Sea Link also starts in 2018