How to calculate commuting time in Delhi

“How long will it take you to reach here?” If you are not a frequent traveller on the route, this is usually difficult answer the question.

After six-years of travelling on Delhi’s roads, I’ve noticed a relation between the distance, the time of the day and the time it takes to reach from point A to point B. And have devised a simple formula.

Let us take the first variable, distance. If you know the distance, good. If not, there’s Google Maps. Just type the “location” to “destination” on the search box and hit enter (eg. Connaught Place to Noida). It’ll display the suggested routes alongwith the distance in kilometres (Google Maps also tells you the commuting time, but that doesn’t seem to be in sync with Delhi’s traffic conditions).

Now that you know the distance, let me explain my (not-so-magic) formula.

Heavy traffic (peak hours)
(8:30 AM to 10:30 AM and 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM)

Distance in Kms x 3

(If your destination is 15 kilometres away, it’ll take you approximately 45 minutes to reach there)

Medium traffic
(10:30 AM to 5:30 PM; 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM)

Distance in Kms x 2

(30 minutes for 15 kilometres)

Low traffic
(9:30 PM to 8:30 AM)

Distance in Kms x 1 (If you aren’t one of those who zoom past at 120 kmph at 2:00 AM)

For Sundays

8:30 AM to 9:30 PM should be treated as medium traffic.

On national holidays (Republic Day, Independence Day and Holi in particular) – the whole day is low traffic.

It usually works for me with an error margin of 5-10 minutes, relative to the distance.

This is just for assuming the commuting time and in no way would provide precise formulas.

Denizens of other cities please provide similar formulas for your city in the comments.

Disclaimer: The author of this post cannot and should not be held responsible if your girlfriend/boyfriend dumps you (or for any other unpleasant reaction) for not being able to reach by the time calculated using the aforementioned formulae.