[mi2n]

I have switched to public transport(Local train + Metro rail) the last 7 odd months and I'm relishing the time and money saved. Although, at times, it's borderline hazardous to life threatening.

That said, I have found my UBER rides and occasional driving errands in the city to be more faster in recent times. Although, huge snarls on festivals and marriage dates still persist. However, overall, I feel Kolkata is, in fact, getting faster. I do find support from this article as well
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/57903293.cms

Also Keshtopur is no longer a bottleneck, totally contrary to what the OLA data suggests. The Keshtopur flyover was completed and commissioned in early 2015 and that stretch of road has been perfectly free flowing ever since.

[dark.knight]

The statistics of ride sharing saving so much of fuel and CO2 emissions are heartening, however, having shared rides in Uber.. I wonder what the calculation goes like? Since we are a forum of nitpickers let me try to draw out the math :

Calculation 1 : Is it based on absolute calculations like Pickup Rider 1 + extra distance to reach Rider 2 & So on + extra distance covered for second dropoff (since first dropoff happens anyway) & so on? Factually, calculating this vis-a-vis a normal OLA ride will need quite a few assumptions and micro calculations and hence, is truly painful.

Calculation 2 : Does this take the form of picking up rider 1, 2, 3 so on without assuming the extra distance taken to reach them (which in some cases go to over a km), and merely deduct the possibility of other cabs having to cover extra ground picking up riders 2, 3 and so on, and expect the wastages to nearly cancel each other out?

Are wastages even included in the calculation? Since we're talking of India-wide stats I think they will build up to many million kms+ including the idle running and hence is an important factor in the scheme of environment conservation (yes I've been to Delhi/GGN recently, I know exactly what the city is going through and what the rest of the cities will go through in due course.

Makes me wonder if the smoke pollution prevention chain of action is anything like few soft drink manufacturers advertising harvesting of rainwater to make their drinks and conserve water.. rainwater that otherwise would've.. become ground-water, most of it. OLA and Uber are all diesel vehicles, and diesel smoke was found to be worse than second-hand cigarette smoking according to W.H.O studies.

https://www.greencarreports.com/news...oke-says-w-h-o

Maybe some good has come out of shared riding, why not? But not as simple as it seems when it comes to science.

[sleepyhead148]

A few observations from my end, from a Bengaluru perspective:

a) Three new tech parks coming up within 5 kms of each other on the already crowded ORR stretch will add to the burden and reduce speeds going forward

b) The entire exercise of white topping parts of ORR and the commencement of phase-3 Metro works in Q-4 last year has seen a lot of people getting stuck in traffic (There's ample evidence of it in the Bangalore traffic thread)

c) A grim reality that looms upon us is the impending demolition of Jayadeva and Madiwala flyovers to bolster Metro work. This would mean traffic coming to a standstill around the Silk Board belt

d) One of the major points that I have here, is that since BMTC and KSRTC withdrew their maintenance contracts with Volvo, the procurement of these buses (under JNNURM or the other different schemes) have reduced. There is no increased frequencies on any of the major Vajra or Vayu Vajra routes and the newly added Samartha/Suvarna fleet is skeletal at best. This, in my opinion, has added to the increase in private vehicles

e) Lack of pool cabs in peak hours. I know it sounds contrary to whatever that's being discussed here, but the days of the initial Ola/Uber boom are past us and new cabs aren't being added to the roads

f) BBMP is trying to aggressively push RMP-2031 which would result in areas beyond ORR viz. Sarjapura, Hosakote, Nelamangala, Magadi etc. become the new ORR areas. Add to this the upcoming local body and state elections and you can clearly see that infrastructure planning is going to take a major beating this year

As an after thought, I would really like to see Ola fully implement its electric vehicle fleet in the city. The numbers about CO2 emissions reducing is good to see but we could have better idea about these numbers once such pilots are conducted in major metro cities.

Originally Posted by smartcat

Out of 20 something Tech parks, only ONE is on left hand side of the city. ONE!

I think we lacked foresight on this one, which is why we have daily snarls.

[msdivy]

Without the average distance, this figure is not meaningful.


It will also help if average commute time is shared for every city.

[jassi_jeeper]

Originally Posted by anku94

As someone who rides an e-bike within Bangalore, I've seen the magic words "Reached in 45 minutes - 15 minutes earlier than predicted" on my Google Nav during a 15 km evening ride from Richmond Circle to Sarjapur Road.

Probably the wrong forum to say this, but cars have become wildly impractical in major cities, with parking issues and towing issues and what not.

That is so true. Im in Chandigarh and looking at the traffic situation here the 'love cars live cars guy' in me is contemplating buying an Activa

[N33raj]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Bangalore's traffic problems explained in one graphic -> physical location of each of the IT (Tech) parks.

Out of 20 something Tech parks, only ONE is on left hand side of the city. ONE!

Off topic, but in this regard, i m a bit better off than some folks as my house is in BSK 3rd stage near the Kamakya theatre and one part of my education was in RVCE and my first job was in the Global village tech park. Everything i need to run a house was a 15 min walk away and Jayanagar 4th block is nearby for all the addas so no rants from me!
Mind you this was almost 2 decades ago. Now i don't own a car there anymore but use cabs and take rides with friends to get around whenever i m there.

[Venkat_Figo]

Every city has the same problem, infrastructure development on one side of the city. I live in Hyderabad & all the development happens in the western part (read Gachibowli, Kondapur, Madhapur...).

I stay in East Hyderabad (Malkajgiri). Used to take me 50-60 mins in 2012-2013 to commute all the way to Gachibowli (38 kms). Now it takes 75-90 mins. Roads get worse & traffic conditions even bad.

[nikhilck]

I am seriously considering leaving bangalore... don't want to raise a family here. Things are getting worse...

[NiInJa]

Interesting article, I am bit surprised by such a small drop in average speed for Pune.

I have seen Pune go from bad to worse ever since I returned from Bengaluru. In 2014 I used to reach office on bike in 40 minutes early morning (Kothrud to Kharadi). Today it takes 60 minutes to reach office. Returning home is another ordeal. The addition of BRTS lanes without any improvement in Public transport buses and incremental rise in private vehicles has created major problems when crossing the city from either ends (east to west).

Hinjawadi is a perfect example of poor planning. The roads leading to IT parks in Phase 2 from phase 1 have only two lanes with no service lane. Add to that big trailers and farming equipment vehicles use the road. So in the event of a breakdown (which is very common in India), since there is no service lane, there is only one lane available for traffic to flow. Add to that on company has entrance at intersection (Wipro Circle) which hinders traffic flow due to cabs, buses and rickshaws halting at the intersection. They are adding a third lane now but there is no solution for managing traffic at intersections which are quite

I am betting on the metro for east-west connectivity. The plan looks good on paper and will eliminate the need to use private cars for office to some extent if done properly.


I was in Bengaluru from 2012 to 2014 and the good part was the public transport was way better than Pune's, so I used to take the bus for commuting. I dont think Silk board and Hebbal junction traffic has a solution right now because its the sheer volume of private vehicles that the roads cant handle. May be a metro line along the Outer ring road will help solve the problem ?