Rants on Bangalore's traffic situation

[pramodpk]

Originally Posted by werfish

Any update if this is going to be implemented from 15th?

No updates on this. I also do not see any preparation happening for this.

[condor]

Came past that signal recently. People do block that entrance. One option: go and stand right in front of them. Let the traffic build up behind you.

[Grand Drive]

A big relief to drive at K.R.Puram bridge ( the one above the Trident showrooms ) as they re-laid the tarmac recently. Earlier it had worst uneven bumps and it was dangerously alarming to drive in two wheelers.

[NPV]

Scene from late last evening:
On the New Thippasandra Main Road, a new TVS Wego comes in from one of the cross roads and cuts right in front of me, rider not wearing a helmet, nothing surprising so far, but I see him riding quite fast and only his right hand is on the handlebar.

It's only then that I notice there is an infant in deep slumber on the rider's left shoulder

There is no limit to the foolish things people do on our streets and really care a damn for their safety, but this was just too much! I wouldn't wish anything bad to happen or curse even my worst enemy if he did something like this

[ankan.m.blr]

(Mods : please delete if found inappropriate)
From a whatsapp forward:
To succeed in life you have to cross a lots of bridges and the most difficult one is ..... Marathalli bridge

[NPV]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

(Mods : please delete if found inappropriate)
From a whatsapp forward:
To succeed in life you have to cross a lots of bridges and the most difficult one is ..... Marathalli bridge

I received this as a forward too, yesterday

So true and we can add so many more to that list which are equally difficult bridges to cross

[guyfrmblr]

I read in a Kannada newspaper that the Government has agreed to allow lorries to enter city limits between 11 AM to 4 PM after the lorry association decided to protest.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

I read in a Kannada newspaper that the Government has agreed to allow lorries to enter city limits between 11 AM to 4 PM after the lorry association decided to protest.

Infact the lorry folks were planning to go on strike to protest against this ban. Now that the govt has removed the ban, the lorry guys have called off their strike.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

I read in a Kannada newspaper that the Government has agreed to allow lorries to enter city limits between 11 AM to 4 PM after the lorry association decided to protest.

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Infact the lorry folks were planning to go on strike to protest against this ban. Now that the govt has removed the ban, the lorry guys have called off their strike.

If the association has its way, things would be back to square one. Deccan Herald has been publishing this news since many days on how Business Lobby and Truckers are threatening a stir against the ban as they are losing "Business".

Despite the ban, have seen crawling Tata Aces occupying the right lane on ORR doing 21.3kmph while a Ashok Leyland Dost overtakes it from the center lane at 21.35 kmph. While doing so, drivers of both the "trucks" engage in a social conversation and exchange sweets and share music via Bluetooth until one of their vehicles attains better speeds.

And just when you thought a gap is good enough for your car to pass, there is a broken down Sand Lorry next to the median and a BMTC Volvo haphazardly stops to pick someone who just signalled to board that bus!

Our woes will never end!

[Chetan_Rao]

We need to absorb some short-term pain for long-term gain. The truckers should be allowed to go on strike for as long as they please (how long will losing 'all' business make sense over losing 'some' business anyway?), even if it means short-term shortage of essential goods to end-consumers. We've had decades of every Tom, Dick & Harry holding us hostage for his own gain, about time they're told to tow the line for public good or perish. Fat chance of that happening though, when the head of the trucker unions are probably relatives of the decision makers.

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Yeah, I am all for letting the truckers "strike" as long as they want. But problem is, if the government had let that happen, then people will start saying the usual - state govt is bad, yada yada.

Originally Posted by binand

I don't think any government can decide that way.......

Sometimes, unpopular decisions need to be made and enforced for the long-term good of the same people who'll be the loudest to denounce it when they're made. Also, look at it this way, the truckers are also part of the same populace, and can't afford indefinite strikes anymore than the average man on the street. All the ills you mention are already afflicting the poorest (strike or no strike), I live close to a government PDS outlet and witness the misery first-hand everyday (topic for a separate discussion). There's no magic fix to the city's ever-increasing woes, and all of us will have to suffer a bit so we can all suffer less in the future. The alternative is obvious.

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

We need to absorb some short-term pain for long-term gain. The truckers should be allowed to go on strike for as long as they please (how long will losing 'all' business make sense over losing 'some' business anyway?), even if it means short-term shortage of essential goods to end-consumers. We've had decades of every Tom, Dick & Harry holding us hostage for his own gain, about time they're told to tow the line for public good or perish. Fat chance of that happening though, when the head of the trucker unions are probably relatives of the decision makers.

Yeah, I am all for letting the truckers "strike" as long as they want. But problem is, if the government had let that happen, then people will start saying the usual - state govt is bad, yada yada.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

We need to absorb some short-term pain for long-term gain. The truckers should be allowed to go on strike for as long as they please (how long will losing 'all' business make sense over losing 'some' business anyway?), even if it means short-term shortage of essential goods to end-consumers.

I don't think any government can decide that way. If truckers strike today, the effects will start late evening or tomorrow - first shortage will be on perishable food items (veggies, poultry products, dairy products...), which could be disaster for the people. Hoarding and black market profiteering will raise prics through the roof. We - as in you and I - might be able to absorb it, but not the general population who live from meal to meal and paycheck to paycheck.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Sometimes, unpopular decisions need to be made and enforced for the long-term good of the same people who'll be the loudest to denounce it when they're made. Also, look at it this way, the truckers are also part of the same populace, and can't afford indefinite strikes anymore than the average man on the street.

I don't subscribe to the theory that sustainable long-term good cannot be had without considerable short-term pain. In my view it is almost always the case that those inflicting upon us the short-term pain doing so because of their terrible planning of the long-term good.

In this case, the government should have a plan that, if the truckers go on strike, will enforce ESMA, take over trucks and start moving goods at its own expense. It should have task forces to detect hoarding and arrangements with TN/AP governments to directly procure farm produce. Then, only then, should they show the proverbial middle finger to the bellicose truckers.

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by binand

I don't subscribe to the theory that sustainable long-term good cannot be had without considerable short-term pain. In my view it is almost always the case that those inflicting upon us the short-term pain doing so because of their terrible planning of the long-term good.

In this case, the government should have a plan that, if the truckers go on strike, will enforce ESMA, take over trucks and start moving goods at its own expense. It should have task forces to detect hoarding and arrangements with TN/AP governments to directly procure farm produce. Then, only then, should they show the proverbial middle finger to the bellicose truckers.

True that. But it never happens. The only time I remember the govt standing firm was in TN years back when Jayalalitha put her foot down in a transport strike and still ran services with spare drivers etc.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by binand

In this case, the government should have a plan that, if the truckers go on strike, will enforce ESMA, take over trucks and start moving goods at its own expense. It should have task forces to detect hoarding and arrangements with TN/AP governments to directly procure farm produce. Then, only then, should they show the proverbial middle finger to the bellicose truckers.

Even though I didn't explicitly mirror your view in my post, it goes without saying that the govt should have a back-up plan in place. Truckers ferrying essential and critical commodities (food, medicines etc.) should either not be allowed to strike (use other forms of protest) or be liable to have their services taken over by the authorities for the length of strike to avoid hassle to end-users. Truckers striking need not be synonymous with general populace suffering, as is unfortunately often the case.

Letting the end user fend for himself is NOT what I meant by short-term pain (though it would invariably cause some), I was rather pointing in the same general direction as you, just didn't convey it appropriately or clearly enough. It's an entirely different debate that our government(s) rarely show the spine to invoke ESMA and get these folks in line. If they'd done that when these 'blackmail' strikes first happened, we probably wouldn't have this 'strike for everything' mentality crippling essential services and holding everyone to ransom.