[aashishnb]

Originally Posted by itisravi

Just some food for thought - on the other extreme of this spectrum, there are urban planners planning entire cities around pedestrians and bicycles.

http://Youtu.be/Boi0XEm9-4E

I was there a few months ago and saw the presentation on how they transformed the centre of the city to become a public transport hub.

In fact, in all of Netherlands, they've focused on removing cars and adding public transport and cycles - most roads have a separate footpath and a separate cycle track. In some places , they reduced the roads from multiple car lanes to single car lanes (kind of opposite of what we do). They focus a lot on 'pedestrian friendly' cities. I know someone who is trying to drive this thinking of 'pedestrian friendly' with Indian bureaucrats.

Even in smaller cities, the public transport includes Metro, Trams & Buses. Obviously, most of it running at a deficit funded by the local government (kind of like loss making public bus transport system in most of our cities, but the buses are not as dilapidated!!!).

Just as a statistic - there are approx. 2x cycles in Netherlands as the number of people living there.

The weather also has a role to play as it is generally pleasant to walk or ride a bicycle in cooler countries compared to our hot & humid cities.

[PhiGolden]

Fantastic post. Spare a thought for the people living in Adarsh Palm Retreat. Folks who have their offices in Ecoworld can work from home. APRites cannot live in the office.

An ambulance takes an hour to reach Sakra hospital two kilometers away.

[esoticoreventon]

I was completely misled by the title! I seriously thought we would learn something alternative about the nightmare Ecoworld.

I have attached a picture of the Maybach S600 that is actually owned by the RMZ company, stuck in a traffic jam. It may not fix all your problems, but it might just make you believe in Karma.

[Lazy Driver]

This post made me laugh like a mad person while Ubering in my 35 minute, 25 kilometers commute to home from work. And I thought Gurgaon had traffic! Sympathies to you all, fellow BHPians!

[rovingeye]

Jesus. This is epic man. I had no idea what Ecoworld was. But by the time I reached half way, I understood this must be about an area in Bangalore. Can't stop laughing.

[d3mon]

Has some change been made in traffic flow recently? I have observed traffic to be *much* lower in the evening (towards Ecoworld exit to ORR) from my vantage point that overlooks the jam every day.

[livyodream]

Originally Posted by rovingeye

Jesus. This is epic man. I had no idea what Ecoworld was. But by the time I reached half way, I understood this must be about an area in Bangalore. Can't stop laughing.

its just a compound. Not even an area

[susheel_kainat]

Originally Posted by drive2eternity

11 Reasons why Ecoworld is great

Yes, you read that right.
Now, I know there are many folks here who work in one of the buildings in Ecoworld, and they and myself have been ranting a lot about the place, its planning, its infrastructure etc etc. So much so, that recently, even the residents of the adjacent, posh villa community held a silent protest/demonstration to highlight the suffering of people who stay or work near this place.
However, I am going to present to you the brighter side of things. So grab some pop-corn, take your seats and fasten your seat belts, as we embark on this together.

Loved the sarcastic representation of the ongoing ordeal. I used to work in Vrindavan Tech Village (currently named Embassy Tech Village), 4 years back and I used to always fret about the traffic when coming out of the park in the evening until I see the people of RMZ and suddenly I realize life is greener my side.
Now I'm enjoying the Manyata side traffic, where they thought white topping is not enough, we need more people to gather outside buildings and hence started the fly-over construction inside the campus.

[bejoy]

Just to give a perspective, there is a "Central Boulevard" that leads to and exits the Ecoworld. Now this "boulevard" carries the entire residential and office goer population in and out of this "Future of Space"(from the RMZ Brochure).

There are 5 traffic signals on this "boulevard" and in worse times, those who start from the far end of the park has to spend 1.5 hours to reach the exit. Remember, this is hardly a KM of road.


This is how the road looks like during evening.





Thanks @drive2eternity for the epic thread. I am sure this thread will live for a long time as the worse is yet to be seen - there are two 13 storied towers being built.

[SideView]

Originally Posted by bejoy

Just to give a perspective, there is a "Central Boulevard" that leads to and exits the Ecoworld. Now this "boulevard" carries the entire residential and office goer population in and out of this "Future of Space"(from the RMZ Brochure).

There are 5 traffic signals on this "boulevard" and
Thanks @drive2eternity for the epic thread. I am sure this thread will live for a long time as the worse is yet to be seen - there are two 13 storied towers being built.

I wonder what happens once the metro construction starts.

[drive2eternity]

Originally Posted by bejoy

Just to give a perspective, there is a "Central Boulevard" that leads to and exits the Ecoworld. Now this "boulevard" carries the entire residential and office goer population in and out of this "Future of Space"(from the RMZ Brochure).

Thanks @drive2eternity for the epic thread. I am sure this thread will live for a long time as the worse is yet to be seen - there are two 13 storied towers being built.

Thanks Bejoy for the map. It clearly shows the blunder made and still no lessons learnt from it, as people are planning for more buildings.

A lot of posts on this thread have mentioned the story is same in other TechParks in Bangalore, I partially agree. But as we see from your map, Ecoworld comes with its distinct set of advantages.

1. Both Manyata and Ecoworld have a public road right through them. This means, that not only traffic meant for the TechPark but also regular vehicles use the roads within them. Manyata is definitely bigger than Ecoworld but it has wider roads and in general a better road network inside and it doesn't have a huge residential complex with thousands of apartments and villas within its belly. Also, Manyata doesn't have more TechParks in its vicinity. Ecoworld has huge ETV and Ecospace on either side. Add to it the wrong side exit from Intel on the service lane and we see its a clear Advantage Ecoworld

2. Ecospace and Ecoworld lie in the blackhole of traffic. Thousands (if not lakhs) of people converge to this area everyday to work and then all of them want to exit it roughly at the same time. However, Ecospace has relatively wider 2.5 lanes, unlike Ecoworld's narrow 2 lane per direction, which by the way is a Public road unlike the dedicated road inside Ecospace. Also, Ecospace has 2 exits so it gives the traffic management team there some flexibility when it comes to making all 4 lanes for entry during mornings (does this arrangement still happen there?). And there is no residential complex inside Ecospace. Advantage Ecoworld

3. ETV, Bagmane etc may suffer from Traffic woes owning to the crowded ORR where they empty their traffic to, but they still have much better infrastructure, wider roads with landscaping etc, but they can't match the "Epic-ness" of Ecoworld planning. In fact, I am pretty certain that a lot of traffic inside ETV would be due to the reason that the ETV exit to ORR criss-crosses the Ecoworld service lane entry from ORR and this place, is almost always jam packed. Advantage Ecoworld

4. ITPL, Global Tech Village etc are just kids when it comes to jams. They shouldn't be in Bangalore.

Having said that, I agree the flyover plan leading directly into Manyata is outlandish and deserves a post of its own. However, I don't experience the chaos there to pen it down. Someone please take the initiative.

[am1m]

Sometimes it's just this internal road that's jammed up and the rest of the route home is free...well no road is really free in this accursed Bellandur/'IT zone', but at least traffic will be moving as opposed to the standstill on the internal road.

So been thinking about parking the bike somewhere outside 'Eco'World (I'm going to start using quotes here because there is really nothing Eco-friendly about this place, quite the opposite!) and then walking in and out of the campus. But the question is where to park, where the bike will be safe and also not be causing a traffic hindrance.

And of course there are those wonderful people who have started riding the wrong way to escape the jam, even on the internal road! And the amazing, glittering examples of humanity that ride those Yulu electric bikes on the pedestrian footpath! What's the point of working in a 'big-brand IT' company if you don't have the basic sense to not ride a motorized vehicle on a path meant for pedestrians?!

Originally Posted by bejoy

...this "Future of Space"(from the RMZ Brochure).

Hey, they're not wrong, this IS the future of space in Bangalore! Very nice and posh once you manage to get inside, but you'll be too busy stuck in traffic getting in and out to enjoy it!

[Hells Bells]

I used to work in Ecospace way back in 2010 when the Bellandur flyover was being built. Life was miserable and we used to get stuck either within Ecospace or just as we exited on the service road. For perspective, I used to work in the very first building within Ecospace and yet there was no escape from the jam. 9 years have gone by and this areas continues to be legend among mere mortals for the traffic jam. With the exact same pattern. PSN in Whitefield feels like a heaven compared to those days.

[Neel]

Happened to be at Ecospace for lunch and quite amazed at the number of restaurants and food options. Parking is a challenge if you drive in. Not sure if the shuttle service is open to all! it's a small city but itself and only growing from within.

[am1m]

Spare a thought for the security team at RMZ 'Eco'world. Those guys do a LOT to bring some semblance of order. Without them manning the traffic flow, things would be a lot, lot worse. They even go up and down that road throughout the day ensuring that vehicles don't park at random and block traffic. Since they're not cops, most drivers start arguing with them. Plus they inhale so much dust and exhaust fumes while they man traffic.

Any way we can sponsor anti-pollution masks for them? Anyone has any idea how to go about it? I'm thinking about approaching the 'enthu-cutlets' at my office, the guys who organize all those rangoli and antakshari contests to see how this can be done as a part of some CRS-thing. Any other avenues?