Bengaluru traffic congestion on the Varthur-Gunjur stretch of SH-35 left hundreds of schoolchildren facing delayed buses, missed time and exhausting journeys on Thursday, with a 4km trip taking as long as 2.5 hours, according to residents and parents quoted by the Times of India.
The corridor, which serves 18-20 large schools, saw school buses delayed by up to 40 minutes during the morning commute. Several schools were conducting mid-term examinations, leaving students anxious after buses reached pickup points late and then became caught in gridlocked traffic. Some schools provided affected students additional time to complete their examinations.
The evening commute was worse, with several children taking up to 1.5 hours longer than usual to return home. Parents said some students remained stranded on the roads for hours as traffic movement slowed across the Varthur-Gunjur corridor.
Priti Singh, a resident of Candor Landmark Apartments, told the Times of India that the disruption was particularly serious because schools were holding examinations. She said the area contributed significantly to Bengaluru’s economy but continued to face poor infrastructure.
Another resident, Pavitra Holla, said some children took nearly 2.5 hours to cover 4km from school. She attributed the worsening conditions to inadequate roads, heavy vehicles moving during school hours, poor traffic management, damaged surfaces and a lack of basic infrastructure. She also said congestion had deteriorated over the past two weeks.
The Varthur-Gunjur stretch forms part of SH-35 and is undergoing infrastructure works being executed by the Karnataka Road Development Corporation. Residents, however, said the corridor continued to have bottlenecks, large craters, damaged road surfaces and unmanaged traffic, making school journeys unpredictable.
For some families, the delays prompted parents to abandon school buses and attempt the journey themselves. Swati Kumari, also a resident of Candor Landmark, said she waited nearly 45 minutes for her son’s school bus before taking him on a two-wheeler. Although he studied less than 2km from home and finished school at 2.45pm, she said he had been reaching home around 4.30pm over the past month.
Kumari said the scooter journey itself took more than an hour to cover barely 1km. She described the commute as unsafe and said parents were increasingly concerned about placing young children on two-wheelers because of recent accidents and the poor condition of the road. The immediate disruption remains tied to ongoing works and traffic conditions on SH-35, with residents seeking safer and more predictable movement along the school corridor.
