Rants on Bangalore's traffic situation

[KRRaj]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Good guesses fellas! But don't you see the buses taking up the entire road!? All 3-4 lanes at that!

I was about to say too many buses. What you say indeed happens after you cross Vellara Junction. There is a bust stop just before the flyover and it becomes a royal mess out there.

[Nitin]

Anyways, back to the Suhaas's picture- I still remember how the steet used to look when it was a regular two-way road. Right opposite the St Patrick's Cathedral there used to be a bus stop, and even then traffic hardly used to get backed up. Of course, I'm talking about the situation 10 years ago. .
There's always a major confusion right before the lights at the Vellara Junction, the road to the right (Primrose rd[?]) is sometimes blocked, and sometimes its open. Why is this done, and why can't the street be opened up for traffic?

[mooza]

Originally Posted by Nitin

There's always a major confusion right before the lights at the Vellara Junction, the road to the right (Primrose rd[?]) is sometimes blocked, and sometimes its open. Why is this done, and why can't the street be opened up for traffic?

When I drove here last week some kind of repairs/cutting was going on , I think.

@Nitin, I am going OT here, but how does the traffic situation at Houston compare in terms of density, flow etc, at peak times in their central business areas ?

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by KRRaj

I was about to say too many buses. What you say indeed happens after you cross Vellara Junction. There is a bust stop just before the flyover and it becomes a royal mess out there.

Originally Posted by Nitin

Anyways, back to the Suhaas's picture- I still remember how the steet used to look when it was a regular two-way road. Right opposite the St Patrick's Cathedral there used to be a bus stop, and even then traffic hardly used to get backed up. Of course, I'm talking about the situation 10 years ago. .
There's always a major confusion right before the lights at the Vellara Junction, the road to the right (Primrose rd[?]) is sometimes blocked, and sometimes its open. Why is this done, and why can't the street be opened up for traffic?

It's slightly different now though, as Krraj had mentioned! The mess begins after the Vellara Junction/signal. That's when all the buses on the road fight for that one lane on the left side, where there is a solitary bus shelter! The bus drivers' basic aim is to get ahead of all the other buses on the road as quickly as possible; and to do this, they need to overtake their counterparts who are in front of them, even if it means that there are two buses side-by-side!

I've seen as many as 4 buses involved in an overtaking-tussle and as a result, all the cars next to them get bullied to the extreme right side of the road and thus leaving no space for them at all. Most of them are too scared to get into the tussle and decide to stay back and remain almost stationary, behind the buses.

[Nitin]

Originally Posted by mooza

When I drove here last week some kind of repairs/cutting was going on , I think.

@Nitin, I am going OT here, but how does the traffic situation at Houston compare in terms of density, flow etc, at peak times in their central business areas ?

Sorry about going OT here,MODS. I'd like to reply to Mooza's query:
Houston has some terrible bottle necks, and these will never be addressed thanks to all the corruption and bureaucracy of the Mayor (trust me, it exists in its entirety in the US). There are toll roads that are smooth flowing, so many people choose to use those. But get to Downtown, and thereabouts, and we'r talking about a major mess for a good few hours in the morning and evening.

[mooza]

Originally Posted by Nitin

Houston has some terrible bottle necks, and these will never be addressed thanks to all the corruption and bureaucracy of the Mayor ...we'r talking about a major mess for a good few hours in the morning and evening.

@ Nitin, thanks a lot for the perspective from USA ! Hope our babus don't read this, because that will give them further reason to gloat

Koramangala in Bangalore is nowadays having signal-to-signal pile ups on a daily basis, on the infamous 100 feet road. However, this makes it easy for me to cross the road on foot . It's not all bad for the pedestrians, at least !

[Gany]

Since the past few days I am getting stuck for good 15 minutes at Carmelram railway gate after the gate opens...all because of james bonds who are trying to overtake the stopped vehicles creating multiple lanes on a 2 lane road!

[suhaas307]

I was stuck in the mother of all traffic jams on the day of St. Mary's Feast. For about half an hour, I got a good look at The Lido Mall from the outside. On that fateful day, the cops had turned that otherwise one-way-road into a two-way. And as expected, all hell broke loose!

Here is a picture that is, well actually, quite self-explanatory.



For those who can't figure it out, look hard and you'll see a two-wheeler without its owner in the midst of everything. Yes, he decided that standing on the pavement is a better option!

[Nitin]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

For those who can't figure it out, look hard and you'll see a two-wheeler without its owner in the midst of everything. Yes, he decided that standing on the pavement is a better option!

Seen that happen ever so often in B'lore. I remember one such spot used to be Richmond Road (close to Lifestyle), where people would shut off their vehicles and walk around to grab something to snack on. Be it corn, peanuts, or Bhel puri, they;d have enough time to finish off their snack and hop back on their bikes and just ride away.

[menonrajesh]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

On that fateful day, the cops had turned that otherwise one-way-road into a two-way. And as expected, all hell broke loose!

This road which is in front of Lido Mall is made Two-way since last few days and it has become a pain to reach Trinity circle. It was really smooth till they made this change and still wondering whats the reason behind for such a change.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by Nitin

Seen that happen ever so often in B'lore. I remember one such spot used to be Richmond Road (close to Lifestyle), where people would shut off their vehicles and walk around to grab something to snack on. Be it corn, peanuts, or Bhel puri, they;d have enough time to finish off their snack and hop back on their bikes and just ride away.

Oh yes it does happen everywhere in Bangalore. I see it happen almost everyday on Richmond Road during peak hours. Taxi fellows will switch off their cars, open the doors and give their feet some air and probably snack on something for a bit before taking off again.

Originally Posted by menonrajesh

This road which is in front of Lido Mall is made Two-way since last few days and it has become a pain to reach Trinity circle. It was really smooth till they made this change and still wondering whats the reason behind for such a change.

I'd realized this only today! After St. Mary's Feast, the road was turned into a one-way again. But today, I was in for a shock. I generally take the right side of the road after the Ulsoor Police Station but today, there were a dozen cops waiting for people to take the right side of the road. I'm glad I noticed it in advance or I would've been flagged down.

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A couple of weeks back, we got something that was quite interesting in the mail.

It was a Rs.100/- traffic violation for 'switching-lanes' apparently. My mother was driving the Jazz somewhere near Ulsoor and there is a picture of her attempting the 'switch'. Now on that road, the lanes aren't even marked properly and all my mother was doing was preparing herself for a right turn. Traffic was sparse and it wasn't even a high-speed manoeuvrings (my mother hasn't even gone above 40 km/h in this new car.)

She wasn't exactly on the right side of the road. The indicator was turned on and about 50 ft before the turning, she performed the lane-change.

I must add that our family follows ever possible rule on the road, including crossing the road at zebra-crossings and coming to a halt rather than speeding-up when the lights turn orange from green. We wear our seat-belts and follow lane discipline all the time. Even the speed limit of 50 km/h within the city is strictly observed by us.

Despite the efforts we take, we find such 'letters' in our mail.

Now take a good long look at this picture. It's extremely disheartening to see this:



This picture was taken today at 10:00 am and this is the road that one would take to reach Richmond Road from Trinity Circle (left from Trinity Circle near the Army-Mess).

I have, in red, circled the appropriate part of the picture. Can you see the green-light that allows vehicles to proceed straight? What you also see is an idiot BMTC bus driver in his mammoth bus blocking the entire road just because he wants to take a right turn. The signal is red for those who want to take a right but green for those who want to go straight.

Isn't this against the rules of lane-discipline, Mr. Praveen Sood? Why do we innocent people have to pay for something we haven't done wrong, and why do these bus drivers get away scot-free?

And it's not just here! I see this happen everyday at the traffic-signal right after Philips Milenia just before Old Madras Road. Bus drivers pile up on the road and refuse to let people go past even though it's a green-light for us.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by Gany

Since the past few days I am getting stuck for good 15 minutes at Carmelram railway gate after the gate opens...all because of james bonds who are trying to overtake the stopped vehicles creating multiple lanes on a 2 lane road!

Gany, i also saw the same thing happen yesterday when i got stuck at the railway crossing. However, that is the scene at almost any railway crossing in our country.

Between, i've started using that road since just a week now. You stay nearby?

[sabynag]

In any railway crossing, you have one of the two choices :

1. Behave like a foreigner and quietly park your car at the tail of the queue as you arrive. In this case, everyone ahead of you in the queue and every Indian arriving after you until you cross the junction have higher priority than you.
2. Behave like a true son of Indian soil. Go straight to the head of the queue and park your car in parallel to the foremost car in the queue (or go as close to that point as you can, in case other Indians have already taken those sweet spots). Now, you have blocked the lane for the traffic from the other side and unless you are given right of way, everyone will be delayed. So, to serve a larger cause, it is now a duty of the others who were waiting patiently in the proper queue to allow you the right of way. By doing so, they are not doing any favor to you but are serving a larger cause of easing the overall traffic. So, if they don't do it, you have every right to shout at them - you will certainly get crowd support.

[sumannandy]

I got ticket for no parking AND parking on white line. If it is no parking then does it make sense to get another ticket for parking on white line?

[anainar]

Originally Posted by sumannandy

I got ticket for no parking AND parking on white line. If it is no parking then does it make sense to get another ticket for parking on white line?

hehehe! Being fined for committing a mistake, but not in the right way!!! Is'nt this what they call double jeopardy? That you cant get punished for the same crime twice?. So you have to pay Rs.200?

Nainar