[Fauji]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Too much verbose here

Let me try to summarize. Assuming you cross Bannerghata Road at the ground level (I say so because the fly-over above Bannerghata Road is still under construction) and you know that you will just take a right and then immediate left to get back to NICE Road for the Bannerghata Road to Hosur Road stretch.

Just before NICE Road ends on the Hosur Road side, you have a toll-gate where you need to pay Rs. 25/- for Bannerghata Road to Hosur Road stretch. After the toll gate, please keep to the extreme left lane that splits and curves to join Hosur Road (NH-7) towards Silk Board Junction/Flyover on the service lane from which you can enter the main lanes at the next signal that goes by the name Hosa Road or Central Jail Road junction. On NICE Road exit point, you will see direction indicating boards that tells you to take left for Madiwala (just beyond Silk Board) and Bangalore. The central and right most lanes go straight and below the BETL Road & above the NH-7 road, then takes a right curve to join Hosur Road (NH-7) towards Electonics City (just as you reach ground level on NH-7) and further southwards to Hosur.

Hope this helps !

Thanks Ajit. My post earlier was wrong though it will anyway lead him to Hosur road. Got confused.

[ajithbr]

Originally Posted by Fauji

Thanks Ajit. My post earlier was wrong though it will anyway lead him to Hosur road. Got confused.

Is that some Pune effect? A hangover from driving in Pune where anyone else coming from outside gets confused how and where to drive on the roads !

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Is that some Pune effect? A hangover from driving in Pune where anyone else coming from outside gets confused how and where to drive on the roads !

Ha! Ha! Not only in Pune but also due to driving in chaotic towns of MP & UP - Indore, Bhopal, Varanasi, Lucknow - in the last fortnight. The chaos is to be seen and experienced. Compared to those standards, Bangalore/Pune is very very disciplined

[himavanth_m]

Originally Posted by Fauji

Sunil, I just came last week after driving in Pune. Pune still takes the cake as more chaotic than Bangalore. Possibly you will experience yourself when you are here

Sorry OT:
I still think Bangalore heavy traffic takes the cake.
But coming to your point, I think Pune traffic is much better (Atleast till 2010 when I was there for 3 years). The problem with Pune is there are a lot of young rich kids driving very rashly there. More frequent than other places.
Another problem is some of the places in Pune have separate bus lanes in the middle of the road. That gets confusing especially for people travelling from outside to Pune.
The bus lanes hardly save any travel time and it was apparently an Idea copied from Belgium after seeing their separate bus lanes and the Idea was given by some IIT Bombay Prof (Not sure of authenticity of this). And this idea was implemented in a very bad way in Pune which causes a lot of head ache for other vehicles. . Although I appreciate the idea of promoting public transport, they should have designed it in much better way.
Can you imagine crossing a very busy road and go to the middle of the road to reach a bus stop and catch a bus. All this while cars zooming fast behind you and the buses coming very close in front of you

[suniladhiya]

@himavanth: Reply to OT: Totally agree with your point about rich kids driving rashly - in fact there are so many accidents being caused by this particular category of drivers. Another menace in Pune is the travel taxis hired by the IT cos zooming in and out of traffic 24x7. The bus lanes you mention is the latest horror of Pune - its called BRTS (Bus Rapid Transport System) and creates more problems than it solves

[suniladhiya]

Can the regular Bangalore travellers please advise on which would be the good places to halt for tea/ bio breaks with decent washrooms especially for ladies between Belgaum and Bangalore. I would like to shortlist 3 spots at approximate equidistance eg: Hubli, Davangere and Tumkur (or is Chitradurg better?) The hotel should be along the highway without having to digress into the towns.

Please give the names of suitable places in both directions, i.e. Belgaum-Bangalore and Bangalore-Belgaum.

Thanks in advance

Originally Posted by suniladhiya

Please give the names of suitable places in both directions, i.e. Belgaum-Bangalore and Bangalore-Belgaum.

There are many Kamat Upachar eateries with clean loo on NH 4.

Locations:

1. Near Dobbespet [60 km from Bangalore on RHS] attached to IOCL Jubilee Retail Outlet

2. Near Sira [120 km from Bangalore on RHS] attached to BP COCO retail outlet

3. Ranebennur bypass [from Bangalore on LHS] attached to Reliance pump

4. Chabbi near Hubli [from Bangalore on RHS] attached to Reliance pump

[binand]

Originally Posted by himavanth_m

Another problem is some of the places in Pune have separate bus lanes in the middle of the road. That gets confusing especially for people travelling from outside to Pune.

Even though I am a car user, I fully support various city administrations' efforts to promote bus usage via such systems (called BRTS - implemented in Ahmedabad, Pune and Jaipur, being planned elsewhere). In my view, cheaper BRTS is a better option for smaller cities than the more expensive Metro and other light rail systems that are planned currently (Kochi etc.). Worldwide, it is not a Belgium-specific thing, but implemented in several countries.

Since I have not seen the Pune BRTS first-hand (but am interested in mass rapid transport systems), please can you answer these questions?

1. You say the BRTS is confusing for outsiders - is the signage not proper?
2. You say the bus lanes do not save any travel time - why is it so?
3. Ditto - "implemented in a very bad way". The general feedback on Pune BRTS is that it is fairly successful and well-implemented. I would like to hear your views on this.

PS: In case this is not on-topic for this thread, please move appropriately.

[himavanth_m]

Originally Posted by binand

Since I have not seen the Pune BRTS first-hand (but am interested in mass rapid transport systems), please can you answer these questions?

1. You say the BRTS is confusing for outsiders - is the signage not proper?
2. You say the bus lanes do not save any travel time - why is it so?
3. Ditto - "implemented in a very bad way". The general feedback on Pune BRTS is that it is fairly successful and well-implemented. I would like to hear your views on this.

PS: In case this is not on-topic for this thread, please move appropriately.

I will answer your queries here itself, but any further questions, you can PM Me or start a separate thread on it.

1. signage is there but improper at some places. It gets hidden in the dust and soot from pollution barely visible sometimes. Also most outsiders do not know what BRTS is and are not aware of such separate bus lanes. So even if they see sign and an empty road, indian mentality is to go through it and get caught by police.
2. More often than not, cars enter these lanes, making the bus travel slower. Although police watches it rigorously, but how often can they watch it?
Also if there are 5 busses continuously in the lane and all must stop at the bus stop which is very small, the time taken for the last bus is quite high as it gets a chance to stop at the busstop after the ahead 4 busses stop. Proper planning of bus timings should take care of this.
3. To reach bus stop, there is no foot overbridge, one has to cross the road through heavy traffic to reach there. Also the width of the bus stop apart from the seating area is very small and it is overcrowded. So there are cars zooming behind you and buses very close in front of you moving. Also the bus stop (Which requries extra width) is present where the road is at the narrowest. improper design of lanes is another factor. Arbitrarily, the bus lane gets narrower and wider. Also there is bus lane for say x kms after which the bus lane totally vanishes (As the road is narrower ahead) and then it comes back again. So no continuity. These are the prime things that I can think of when I say it is implemented badly

Mods: Delete if necessary

[Sheel]

This road is a hit among the folks of Bangalore, Bombay, Pune for completing saddle sore* runs.

*Saddle sore - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...addlesore.html

Any of you spotted any riders?

[Limpid]

I am planning to drive from Bangalore to Pune next weekend. When I drove on this stretch last May, I found condition of KA side of NH 4 far better than MH side in terms of traffic, time spent at toll gates and potholes.

I somehow want to avoid traffic and long waiting time at toll gates at MH side, but looks like I can’t avoid it if I start from Bangalore at my usual time of 4 AM.

Please share any other updates / road condition if someone has recently travelled on this stretch of NH 4

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Limpid

I am planning to drive from Bangalore to Pune next weekend. When I drove on this stretch last May, I found condition of KA side of NH 4 far better than MH side in terms of traffic, time spent at toll gates and potholes.

I somehow want to avoid traffic and long waiting time at toll gates at MH side, but looks like I can’t avoid it if I start from Bangalore at my usual time of 4 AM.

Please share any other updates / road condition if someone has recently travelled on this stretch of NH 4

I will be driving to Surat on coming Saturday (22nd) via Pune and Thane as well and shall be starting from Bangalore at 4-00am too.
However, the only way you could avoid the traffic in MH and the wait time at toll booth is b by leaving Bangalore around 1-00 PM so that you will enter MH around 9/10pm depending under sedate driving conditions.

Traffic in MH side starts shrinking after 9pm and remains good (least) till at least 6-00am.
However, it would totally depend on how comfortable you are with night driving.

We can probably sync and drive till Pune if you are interested. Let me know so that I will PM you my number.

[Limpid]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

We can probably sync and drive till Pune if you are interested. Let me know so that I will PM you my number.

@Parag, Let’s sync up. As of now, plan is to start at 4 AM on Saturday and reach Puné around 4 ~5:30 PM. I will be driving with my wife and kid. They are very much tuned to this travel now. I will PM you.

Entering Pune City again is a pain in the evening. My Final destination is Shivaji Nagar and I will have to take the busiest route in the city in the evening!

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Limpid

@Parag, Let’s sync up. As of now, plan is to start at 4 AM on Saturday and reach Puné around 4 ~5:30 PM. I will be driving with my wife and kid. They are very much tuned to this travel now. I will PM you.

Entering Pune City again is a pain in the evening. My Final destination is Shivaji Nagar and I will have to take the busiest route in the city in the evening!

I have PM'd you my number Limpid. Call me whenever you think its appropriate. This time, I will be driving with my parents while I usually drive with my wife and kid too.
Regarding entering Pune at peak hours and reaching your destination, I have witnessed the worst part in December last year when I had to pass through Swargate, cross Hadapsar-Kharadi Bypass with loads of diversions due to flyover construction and then continue all the way till my final destination Aurangabad. All this with my wife and my 9 months old daughter.
Hence, I 'consider' reaching Shivjinagar a bliss.
More on this when we talk.

[shipnil]

Not sure where you enter. But if you have to go to Shivaji Nagar, I'd advise to leave NH4 at Chandni Chowk and take Bavdhan road (Not Paud Road) - Pashan circle - University circle - Shivaji Nagar route. This way you'll encounter only one signal at University circle. The traffic is also relatively less on this stretch.
The Swargate section is always crowded.