NIPune (Net Impact Pune Professional Chapter) undertook a challenging assignment Hinjewadi Traffic Optimization (HTO) that involved work with various companies in Hinjewadi, PMC, PMPML and various other stakeholders including NGOs and CIO Pune. Here is the report of the study that describes the methodology, process, key findings and recommendations for various stakeholders.

1. Net Impact Pune
Hinjewadi Traffic
Optimization Report
1
April, 2009

2. Contents
Preface ................................................................................................................................. 4
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ 5
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ 6
Background ......................................................................................................................... 7
Hinjewadi Traffic Optimization Engagement .................................................................. 11
Key Findings ..................................................................................................................... 14
General Recommendations.............................................................................................. 33
About NetImpact Pune...................................................................................................... 36
2

3. Hinjewadi InfoTech Park, the biggest IT park in Pune, currently employs approximately
55,000 professionals
3

4. Preface
The Hinjewadi Traffic Optimization (HTO) Engagement has emerged as a prime example of how
professional community can get involved and partner with stakeholders of the Society to create a
positive change in the Environement.
HTO has brought International recognition to NetImpact Pune during the NetImpact Global Conference
held at the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania on November 15 2008, wherein
NetImpact Pune was conferred the second best chapter among the new NetImpact chapters initiated
across the globe.
4

5. Acknowledgements
HTO wouldn’t have seen the light of the day without the passionate and dedicated involvement of some
of the socially conscious individuals in Pune. The entire team of NetImpact Pune expresses their
gratitude & indebtness for the dedicated involvement of these individuals.
First and foremost, we would like to thank to the thousands of people working in various organization in
Hinjewadi for taking time to fill in the survey and provide us valuable data without which this report
would have been meaning less. Along, with this we also owe debt of gratitude to each member of
NetImpact Pune team who spent hundreds of hours over the course of HTO project, for identifying
various problems and facts, meeting appropriate stakeholders and discussing various solutions to infer
right recommendations that is both feasible and practical to bring positive results for the benefit of
community.
NetImpact Pune would like to thank Sujit Patwardhan and Ashok Srinivas of Parisar for their passionate
involvement at the early stage of the HTO engagement. We also owe our thanks to Ranjit Gadgil of
Janwani for his active support during the course of the engagement.
Our special thanks go out to the Corporates at Hinjewadi and the Hinjewadi Industry Association for the
guidance and empowerment they have provided us to steer this engagement to fruition. We would
particullarly like to thank Mr. GM Rao, Madhav Kulkarni, Ms. Rucha Ambekar, Vibhuti Kumar Dubey,
Sunil Advani , Mritunjay Kumar Singh, Sandeep Avdut Bacchuwar & Paramvir Paul who helped us drive
the HTO engagement in their respective organizations and tap the professional community power of
Hinjewadi. We would also like to thank Swarraj Kulkarni, Aamod Gokhale, and many other professional
consultants for imbibing the nuggets of consulting during the course of this engagement. There have
been substantial steps taken in the past during the course of the engagement to improve the traffic
situation at Hinjewadi, for which NetImpact Pune would like to laud the entire Corporate community at
Hinjewadi.
Our special recognition goes out to Dr. Anupam Saraph, the CIO of Pune, for his visionary approach and
innovative thoughts that have always kept us excited and stretched us to explore new ways to leverage
the power of technology to improve the traffic situation at hand. We would also like to express our
gratitude to the various Government authorities who were directly or indirectly involved in influencing
the findings of the HTO engagement.
Finally, we would like to thank NetImpact Central (San Fransisco) , and especially Will Morrison (Global
Chapter Manager, NetImpact), and Liz Maw (Executive Director, NetImpact) for their timely assistance
to leverage the global power of NetImpact.
5

6. Executive Summary
This report presents the Key Findings and Recommendations for the non-profit consulting engagement
undertaken by NetImpact Pune for their stakeholders to improve the traffic situation at Hinjewadi – a
bustling IT Park in Pune. The stakeholders of NetImpact Pune in this engagement were the Professionals
working at Hinjewadi, NGOs working for the Environment and Urban Planning sector, Corporate Firms &
the Government Authorities handling the administration of Hinjewadi.
NetImpact Pune christened the consulting engagement as the Hinjewadi Traffic Optimization (HTO)
engagement with the following goals and objectives:
• Identify the Traffic Pattern of Professionals arriving at Hinjewadi (Residence, Mode of Transport, etc)
• Capture the Traffic problems faced by Professionals travelling to Hinjewadi and the solutions they
propose to solve the traffic problems
• Indicate the inclination of professionals to accept various innovative solutions to address the traffic
problems (Car Pooling, Work from Home policy, Government Bus service, etc)
With the above Engagement drivers as the force behind HTO, NetImpact Pune launched the HTO
engagement with the help of Corporate Firms among the 55,000+ professionals at Hinjewadi.
True to the NetImpact motto of applying business skills to create a positive change in their Society,
NetImpact Pune undertook rigorous statistical analysis of the facts collected to arrive at Key Findings
and actionable insights that were ultimately presented in this Consulting Report to its stakeholders to
empower them in their mission of bringing positive change in the Society.
Recommendation Summary
To solve the traffic situation, there needs to be complimentary efforts from each of the stakeholders. On
one hand, Government needs to improve their PMPML service and infrastructure as presented in the
report, while on the other hand corporate firms and professionals need to support by initiating
programs and taking actions that will benefit the whole community.
The major things that we propose to each stakeholder are
PMPML – Increase the frequency of buses to / from Hinjewadi in peak hours and initiate buses / modify
routes to serve more professionals from existing 3% to 50%.
Corporate Firms – Promote government bus passes alongside company bus and provide incentives to
employees using shared transport (tax benefits, free parking for car pools, eco-commuter awards)
Government – Improve the infrastructure, plan out multiple routes to Hinjewadi and appropriately
divert the traffic on each road.
Professionals – Prefer a shared transport whenever possible and create awareness among community
for the same thereby supporting the traffic eco-system.
6

7. NetImpact Pune has thus succeeded in applying the power of business and the strength of technology to
empower the socially active change agents in Pune to more effectively solve the traffic issues at
Hinjewadi and mobilize the professional community at Hinjewadi to create awareness about the traffic
situation and participate in the change.
Hinjewadi Infotech Park is located at the north-west outskirts of Pune, about 5 km from
Aundh / Baner. Total estimated investment of the park is 600 million and will roughly have an
area of 2800 acres.
7

8. Background
About Pune
Pune is the second largest city after Mumbai in the state Of Maharashtra, India. It is a city with a thriving
industrial centre and a population of nearly 5 million. Some of the country’s most prestigious industries
are located in Pune from Industry sectors such as software, automobile, machine tools, chemicals,
electrical and electronics, instrumentation and control, iron and steel, castings and forgings, telecom,
packaging, auto components, material handling equipment, fuel and pumps, etc. Pune's contribution to
the national exports has touched 11 per cent in 2006-07 compared with 8.9 per cent in 2005-06.
Over the years, Pune has witnessed a tremendous growth in its population and traffic as exhibited by
the statistics below.
Fig1: Population Growth in Pune City.
Fig2: Traffic Growth in Pune City
Source: World Institute of Sustainable Energy
The city rides mostly 2-wheelers, narrow roads and lack of public transport options are the
pressing problems.
8

9. Hinjewadi – The Software Hub of Pune
Think Pune and you think IT. Think IT and the first name that comes to mind is ‘Hinjewadi.’
Software exports from Pune have increased from Rs. 80 million in 1994-95 to more than Rs. 15,000
million in 2008. A lion’s share of this revenue comes from the IT companies located in Hinjewadi.
Located at the north-west outskirts of Pune, about 5 km from Baner, Hinjewadi is the IT hub of Pune.
The technology park at Hinjewadi houses many Indian software companies. Some of them are: Infosys,
Cognizant Technologies, Wipro, TCS, KPIT Cummins, Geometric, Tech Mahindra (planned in phase 3),
Persistent Systems, and AztecSoft. It also houses some small product companies such as Compulink and
Starrent Networks and couple of biotech firms.
The buoyant Pune IT sector employs more than 70,000 people. In addition to existing software
companies, others are planning to set up operations in Pune, including software giant Microsoft, which
intends to set up Rs 700-crore facility in Hinjewadi.
Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park
The Hinjewadi IT Park (officially called as the Rajeev Gandhi IT Park), is a project undertaken by MIDC to
promote the IT sector in Pune. It is the biggest IT Park in Pune. When completed, the Hinjewadi IT Park
is expected to have an area of about 2800 acres. The estimated investment in the project is about Rs.
600 million.
The whole project is being developed in phases. Here is an approximate breakdown of the phases:
Fig3: Phase wise Growth of Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park
9

10. Phase III is all set to double the Hinjewadi Infotech Park. Are we prepared?
10

11. Hinjewadi Traffic Optimization Engagement
Hinjewadi has been at the forefront to witness the exponential growth in Pune, with the establishment
of the Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park. Unforeseen planning & inadequate infrastructure has proven to be
insufficient to meet the demands of the burgeoning population of professionals travelling from Pune to
Hinjewadi IT Park every day.
NetImpact Pune realized the need to proactively come forward and work towards addressing the
worsening traffic problems at Hinjewadi. They partnered with the following stakeholders to work
towards improving the traffic situation at Hinjewadi:
• NGOs working in the Urban Planning sector
• Corporate Firms resident in Hinjewadi
• Professionals travelling to Hinjewadi
• Government Agencies managing the Hinjewadi jurisdiction
NetImpact Pune Collaborative Model
NetImpact Pune adopted the collaborative model
to work towards improving the traffic situation at
Hinjewadi by empowering the existing
stakeholders already working towards the traffic
issue by bridging the information gap between
traffic situation at the ground level and their
implementation prowess.
This engagement to mobilize the professional
community at Hinjewadi along with the social
stakeholders of Pune to collectively solve the
traffic problem at Hinjewadi was christened as the
PMPML, is the sweet spot for approx 57% of professionals commuting to Hinjewadi, but at the
moment only 3% use them!! Can we serve them their sweet spot?
11

12. HTO Engagement Approach
NetImpact Pune adopted the following approach for the HTO engagement:
Social Needs Analysis
• Understood the strengths, functioning and requirements
of the NGOs working in the Environment & Urban
Planning sector Social Needs Analysis
• Surveyed the traffic situation at the ground level at
Hinjewadi
• Created a Survey with following objectives:
∗ Identify the Traffic Pattern arriving at Hinjewadi
∗ Capture the Traffic problems faced by professionals
commuting to Hinjewadi
Engagement Charter
∗ Judge the inclination of professionals towards
various innovative solutions to solve the traffic
problems (Car Pooling, Government Bus, etc)
Engagement Charter
• Worked out an Engagement Charter along with our
stakeholders to define the scope and expectations out of Facts Collection
the HTO engagement
Facts Collection
• Created a Survey along with our stakeholders to achieve
the objectives listed below
Feasibility Statistical
• With the help of NetImpact Central (California) and
Study Analysis
Corporates at Hinjewadi, launched the survey among
55,000+ professional community in Hinjewadi
Statistical Analysis & Feasibility Study
• Performed rigorous statistical analysis of the data
collected to arrive at Key Findings and actionable insights
HTO Report
• Blended the statistical findings with the wisdom gained
over qualitative and feasibility aspects through
interaction with our stakeholders over the six month
duration of the engagement
• Arrived at Recommendations for the HTO Report
12

13. 13

14. Key Findings
Key Finding # 1 – Hinjewadi Professional Community Residence Distribution
Majority of professionals (39%) commuting to Hinjewadi reside in the
Aundh, Baner & Pashan Belt
The 55,000 professionals follow CMM level 5 quality standards at work, but their travel to
Hinjewadi is bizarre!
14

15. Key Finding # 2 – Morning Commute Time to Hinjewadi
Majority of professionals (64%) take half to 1 Hour to reach Hinjewadi
19% of the Professionals take more than an Hour to reach Hinjewadi
Professionals residing in Hadapsar, Kondhwa, Koregaon Park, Peths, Swargate and
VimanNagar take more than an hour to reach Hinjewadi
15

16. Key Finding # 3 – Evening Commute Time from Hinjewadi
47% of the Professionals take more than an Hour to reach their homes from Hinjewadi, a
marked increase from the 19% of the same population in the morning
Professionals residing across Pune experience an increase in time taken to reach home in the
Evening
16

17. Key Finding # 4 – Morning vs. Evening Commute Time Comparison
Professionals experience more time delay in the Evening than in the Morning
Professionals staying in Aundh, Baner, Pashan, Deccan, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Kothrud
experience a strong rise in the time taken to reach home in the evening.
17

18. Key Finding # 5 – Mode of Transport
Majority of the professionals (53%) use Company Bus to travel to Hinjewadi
However, a substantial 44% of them use their personal vehicles to reach Office
Recommendation
Launch Awareness Programs to motivate professionals to adopt Shared Transport and reduce
dependency on Individual Transport
18

19. Key Finding # 5.1 – Mode of Transport vis-à-vis Location
Most of the professionals from Aundh and Kothrud use Company Bus
In all of the locations, professionals use Company Bus more than any other mode of transport
Professionals residing from Pimpri-Chinchwad and Wakad area prefer two-wheelers more to
the Company Bus
Recommendation
Corporates must explore opportunities to charge lower fares for using Company Buses for the
professionals staying closer to Hinjewadi such that the cost of using Company Bus works out
cheaper than using a two-wheeler
19

20. Key Finding # 6 – Satisfaction Index
A whopping 91% of the professionals are not satisfied with the Traffic situation at Hinjewadi.
Professionals travelling by their own vehicles i.e. Car and Two-wheelers were found to be
more dissatisfied with the current traffic situation
Professionals travelling through Government Bus seemed to be deriving more satisfaction
out of their daily travel to Hinjewadi
20

21. Key Finding # 7 – Inclination to Switch to Government Bus
Majority of professionals have shown inclination to switch to the Government Bus Service
Professionals using Cars have shown a strong urge to switch to Government Buses, if a good
quality of service provided
Encouragingly, professionals using the Government Buses would like to continue the service
and indicate a high satisfaction rate.
21

22. Professionals residing in Baner, Wakad, & Swargate/Katraj belt indicated the highest interest
to switch to the Government Bus service
22

23. 36.5% of the Professionals reside in the Baner, Pashan, Kothrud and Swargate/Katraj belt
The existing Government Bus service runs only via the Aundh route from Pune Station and
Pune Municipal Corporation. The Baner, Pashan and Kothrud-Bangalore-Mumbai highway
route to Hinjewadi is not existent
Large percentage of professionals (75.24%) from Aundh, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Wakad-
Hinjewadi belt use the Government Bus service out of the total population travelling by
Government Buses
Recommendation
Government can immediately launch bus service as a pilot from Baner, Swargate & Wakad to
Hinjewadi.
In the future, more bus routes via Pashan & Kothrud-Bangalore-Mumbai highway can be
established to Hinjewadi, besides the existing routes via Aundh & Pimpri-Chinchwad
23

24. Proposed Government Bus Routes from Baner to Hinjewadi
Courtesy: SadakMap.com
Proposed Government Bus Routes from Swargate to Hinjewadi
Courtesy: SadakMap.com
24

25. Key Finding # 8 – Inclination to Switch to Car Pool Service
Sizeable number of Professionals (56.6%) have expressed desire to switch to the Car Pool
Service
Professionals using Cars are most inclined to sharing a Car Pool Service
Recommendation
Corporates can leverage technology (Twitter, SMS registration) and independent low cost
arrangements to encourage car pooling among their employees. Those contributing and using Car
pools should be appropriately rewarded
25

26. Professionals residing in Hadapsar, Kondhwa and VimanNagar are most inclined to switch to
a Car Pool Service
Professionals residing in Aundh, Baner, Pashan & Deccan-Shivajinagar area wouldn’t prefer a
Car Pool Service.
Professionals staying closer to Hinjewadi haven’t shown interest in the adopting the Car Pool
service
26

27. Key Finding # 9 – Inclination towards Flexible Timings to Work
Vast majority of professional community (82.5%) preferred having flexible timings to Work
Key Finding # 10 – Inclination towards Working from Home
Comparatively less percentage of Professionals (69%) agreed to Work from Home
Recommendation
Corporates can implement policy changes like encouraging Work from Home for senior
management for at-least once a week, thus reducing the traffic congestion of cars on the road
Having flexible work timings can redistribute the traffic and ‘flatten’ the rush hour
27

28. Key Finding # 11 – Hinjewadi Incoming Traffic Timing Distribution
Professionals arrive throughout the day to Hinjewadi, with the rush hour from
7 AM to 10 AM.
Recommendation
Government must increase the frequency of their Bus service to Hinjewadi from every 45
minutes (existing) to 15-20 minutes
Government can run the bus services to complement the existing Company Bus during rush hours
28

29. Key Finding # 12 – Hinjewadi Outgoing Traffic Timing Distribution
Professionals leave for Home from Hinjewadi throughout the day, with a larger rush hour
from 5 PM to 9 PM.
Recommendation
Government can explore increasing the frequency of Bus service from Hinjewadi for late evening
schedule supported by the much dispersed evening rush hour pattern
29

30. Key Finding # 13 –Public Demands from the Government and Car Pool Service
High Frequency of Buses was the most prominent demand of the Professionals
Fares did not make a significant difference, if better quality of Government Buses were
provided
Convenient Pickup points are the most important consideration for professionals to adopt
the Car Pool Service
Fares make a considerable difference, when it is considered using the Car Pool service
30

31. Key Finding # 14 –Traffic Problems faced by Professionals
Traffic Congestion and Narrow Roads seems to be the most persistent traffic problems faced
by the professionals
31

32. We are improving, but there is lot more to do. Listen, Implement, and ITERATE that’s the way
to serve the community.
32

33. General Recommendations
NetImpact Pune suggests the following Recommendations to its stakeholders based on the Key Findings
of the HTO Engagement and taking the Qualitative and Feasibility aspects into consideration:
Government –PMPML
PMPML – Short Term Action
Increase frequency of bus service - Public bus service to Hinjewadi in every 15 minutes during
peak hours from high pocket regions such as Aundh, Baner ,Pashan, Wakad, and Kothrud which
accounts for 70% of commuters to Hinjewadi
Improved Quality of buses - Good Quality, Higher fare,point to point Bus Service to promote
public transport (60% respondents prefer exclusive buses for professionals)
Services -
o Adequate Bus stands – PMPML should coordinate with MIDC to provide proper Bus
stands in Hinjewadi Ph1 and Ph2
o Online and flexible Bus pass – Flexibility in getting bus pass say for 1 day, 1 week or
monthly online pass to encourage usage of Bus service
PMPML – Long Term Action
Pilot launch of BRTS routes from Aunch, Kothrud, Chinchwad, and Swar Gate
Introducing cashless travel through smart cards and introducing LCD Panels in Buses for
generating advertising revenue
Independent Board to be setup for improving Public Transport in Pune consisting of Corporate
leaders and Traffic Activists
33

34. Corporate
Corporate Organizations in Hinjewadi –Short Term Action
Sensitize employees for usage of public transport –
o Companies could increase parking charges and utilize this money for subsidizing Short
Term Company Bus passes ( Refer KF on Slide# 8)
o Promote PMPML bus passes at organization premises and over intranet
Car Pooling –
o Promote Online Car pooling systems
o Parking discounts for employees who avail car pool
Promote using online and other channels to publish messages / interviews of Organization
leaders using public transport
Launch Contest such as “Eco-Commuter” of the month to discourage private mode of transport
Corporate Organizations in Hinjewadi –Long Term Action
Allow Policy changes to permit Work from home for specific number of days for specific grade of
people
Conduct workshops and seminars to sensitize the professional community on traffic laws,
adopting shared transport and other possible solutions
Infrastructure
Infrastructure Changes in Hinjewadi –Short Term Action
Alternate route - Provide alternate road option to Hinjewadi via Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports
Complex to Hinjewadi for people coming from Baner, Pashan and Kothrud
Stop entry of Heavy slow moving vehicles during peak hours to Hinjewadi
MIDC should provide proper space for making Hinjewadi Bus Depot so as to avoid parking issues
for PMPML buses
Introduce No parking in bottleneck areas
Infrastructure Changes in Hinjewadi – Long Term Action
Plan for constructing Flyover bypassing Hinjewadi Chowk directly from Wakad
Satellite Township with its own residential, educational and commercial facilities for Upcoming
Phases in Hinjewadi
Improving Wider roads with lane demarcation to Hinjewadi by Toll Tax implementation
Connecting Hinjewadi to Metro Train Service when it starts in Pune from high pocket regions as
Aundh and Kothrud. This will go a long way to address traffic and pollution problem
34

35. Courtesy: SadakMap.com
Professional Community
Better Traffic Awareness
The onus is on the Professional Community to abide by traffic rules and laws and cooperate with
the local authorities to prevent unnecessary traffic jams, honking, etc
Professionals must be ready for change and embrace Shared Transport solutions such as Car
Pooling & Public Transport Service to reduce on the carbon point contribution to their
Environment
35

36. About NetImpact Pune
NetImpact is an International non-profit organization established in 1993 and spread across more than
50 countries.
NetImpact Pune is a community of business professionals and leaders in Pune who utilize their
business skills and network to create a positive impact in their Society.
Explore more about NetImpact on www.netimpact.org
Contact Us
Rahul Menon Ikshwaku Sharma
President – NetImpact Pune President – NetImpact Pune
Tel: +91-9923718169 Tel: +91-9850904863
e-Mail: rahulpmenon@gmail.com e-Mail: iksh.sharma@gmail.com
36