Ashish Kacholia misses flight after Google Maps underestimates Bengaluru traffic

Ace investor Ashish Kacholia missed his Bengluru to Mumbai flight on Thursday after Google Maps failed to correctly estimate the time it would take to reach the airport.
Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) is situated a fair distance away from the main city, and its far-flung location has been criticised by many. Kacholia, the co-founder of Hungama Digital, had to travel from Bengaluru’s HSR Layout to KIA, a distance of over 50 km that, according to Google Maps, could be covered in 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Unfortunately for Kacholia, Google Maps failed to take into account Bengaluru’s unpredictable traffic and weather. According to the ace investor, he missed his flight because the journey took twice the estimated time.
While Google Maps told him that he could cover the distance in 1 hour and 45 minutes, the actual journey took 3 hours. Kacholia said that it started raining during the trip.
“Yesterday missed my flight from Bengaluru to Mumbai because journey took 3 hours instead of 1.45 as shown by Google Maps,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
He took a veiled dig at Bengaluru infrastructure by thanking BMC, the municipal corporation of Mumbai. “Deeply grateful to Mumbai administration @mybmc for investing in infrastructure to keep traffic moving in maximum city,” the Mumbai-based investor wrote on X.

“I think Bangalore is the only place where you can’t rely on the travel time shown on Google Maps. Rarely happened in Gurgaon. (Even though I used to commute Gurgaon to Delhi every day),” wrote X user Sanjay Singh.
“Aim to reach the airport 2 hours before take off time at Bangalore. Add another 30 mins if the travel slot is in the peak hour. Commute is the biggest productivity killer in this great city,” another person said.
Ashish Kacholia co-founded Hungama Digital with Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. In 2003, he started his own company called Lucky Securities.