[deadguy25]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Yelahanka at ~1700:

In hindsight, I feel could be a case of daytime drink-driving. It is little commented on but especially in BLR outskirts, it is VERY common for many people (across all social strata) to drink in the afternoon as they cannot back at home + police checks at night. So post-3 p.m. I take special care whenever I notice extra-aggressive or erratic driving.

On the inner ring road, last month around 1:30 pm ~ 1:45 pm, near Ejipura signal, i saw a guy mixing his drink, in an Innova. I was surprised and continued to look at him in utter amazement. He noticed that i was looking at him, he lowered the window and asked "would you like to have some too?". By the looks, he seemed to be affluent, very good English. But I was shocked. It did not occur to me that people would pur out a drink into a glass in a car and drink, while driving.

[manjubp]

One Request to fellow BHPians.
In addition to ranting here in the forum, please do take a timeout to post the issues on BTP Facebook/tweeter account, preferably with photos. I have seen +ve responses/actions in many cases, at times they do share the contact number of the officer in charge. Talk to them and share your observation, which will certainly have impact. You can always inform that you got the number from BTP control room or higher-ups.

This would help BTP to address the issues. I have seen 60-70% of my complaints resolved.

[LonelyPlanet]

The section between Rainbow hospital till Ecospace virtually sees a red line on google maps every morning. It’s such a crawl on what is a signal free corridor. Any ideas on what the root cause is and if there are any cheat roads that I can use ?

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by LonelyPlanet

The section between Rainbow hospital till Ecospace virtually sees a red line on google maps every morning. It’s such a crawl on what is a signal free corridor. Any ideas on what the root cause is and if there are any cheat roads that I can use ?

Two point answer for the root cause - BAD PLANNING & "I-CARE-A-DAMN-ABOUT-RULES-AND-OTHERS ON THE ROAD" attitude by the yellow-board vehicles

I take this stretch almost every day from my house in Mahadevapura to my office on Sarjapur road and have the following observations

- Till the school break started (Mar-18), traffic on this stretch was bearable till ~830 AM post which the Ecospace / Ecoworld traffic starts and this stretch would be a crawl till about 1030 or 11 AM after which traffic would be better

- There was considerable improvement in the ride time during Apr-May during the school break and presumably lot of people were travelling

- However, since June, this has taken a turn for the worse, probably because of rains and hence more people taking cars instead of 2-wheelers. This stretch is a crawl even at 1130 or 1200. Waiting for the monsoon to stop and hopefully see some improvement in traffic

Key reasons for this jam is unplanned junctions (Rainbow hospital itself is one unplanned junction where traffic on the so called signal-free ORR is stopped by cops to let vehicles from Alpine Eco road turn into ORR. This creates a jam till midway up the Doddenekundi flyover. Similarly ISRO where cops manually regulate traffic and stop vehicles on ORR. Nothing more to be said of Marathahalli . Beyond Marathahalli, the pileup is usually because of the jam created by vehicles wanting to turn into Ecospace / World under the Sakra flyover but because of the mindblowing design of the service roads and the entries into these parks (seriously, this should be nominated in Nat-Geo or Discovery to do a documentary on how not to build road infrastructure), end up clogging 2 lanes of ORR and hence this slows traffic towards Bellandur. This results in pile-up till Marathahalli

Only solace is, the traffic keeps moving unless there is an accident or a breakdown. So my motto is to just try to stay cool inside the car, notwithstanding the antics and mannerisms of all sorts of uncouth maniacs that drive any type of yellow board vehicles (single largest contributors to the mess keeping the bad planning and authorities aside) - BMTC / Uber / Ola / Company Cabs / TTs/ Buses / Tata Ace and what not, and go with the crawl.

[ashokrajagopal]

Originally Posted by aroonanand

Two point answer for the root cause - BAD PLANNING & "I-CARE-A-DAMN-ABOUT-RULES-AND-OTHERS ON THE ROAD" attitude by the yellow-board vehicles
.
.
.
Only solace is, the traffic keeps moving unless there is an accident or a breakdown. So my motto is to just try to stay cool inside the car, notwithstanding the antics and mannerisms of all sorts of uncouth maniacs that drive any type of yellow board vehicles (single largest contributors to the mess keeping the bad planning and authorities aside) - BMTC / Uber / Ola / Company Cabs / TTs/ Buses / Tata Ace and what not, and go with the crawl.

It is a tad outlandish to blame it all on Cabs.
I take Koramangala - Marathahalli stretch for work too.
Anybody could take just 30 mins of their time to get on top of the Ecospace walkway and do a simple old school counting of cars. While you are at it, try to count the number of cars which have at least one passenger more than the driver.
Through out this thread here and there, there are comments doing a blanket blame on Cabs, Autos or two wheelers. I commute every day for 50KM (yes, I am blessed soul) stretching from MG road thru ORR to Kadubesanahalli. It is eerily funny if we think "others" cause this problem.
Per my experience, the two most important reasons are
a) The number of cars and honestly, the damn size of the cars.
b) The fact that none of the drivers (private or cab) ever follow lane discipline.
And wait before you blame it all on Cab drivers or BMTC drivers. I have seen that more often than not, they pull off a lane switch (avoidable for sure) successfully. Educated, white collared drivers like ourselves are not so successful and end up jamming.
Just think about this -- ORR is supposed to be 3 or 4 lanes. How many cars can you count side by side flocking thru each and every open space ?
If the cars followed a 3 lane traffic, sticking about 70% to their lanes, why would any two wheeler be held up in traffic ?

[am1m]

Originally Posted by ashokrajagopal

It is a tad outlandish to blame it all on Cabs. It is eerily funny if we think "others" cause this problem.

Yes, yes, yes! Glad to see there are people who realize the real issue here. I too dislike the cabbies but each TT or bus on the road is actually carrying more people and reducing that many vehicles on the road.

On the other hand, there are far too many of us 'white board' vehicles, often single passenger ones. And we're all the reason the ORR is such a joy to drive on. Until we fully realize this and take steps to remedy this ourselves (the government will do jack-all) - maybe carpool more actively, maybe push in large numbers for our offices to provide work from home options regularly, maybe think 'do I really need such a large car', maybe start by being more courteous to each other on the road, follow lane discipline, and so on, we can expect the same situation to continue and get worse.

But having said all that, the cabbies are really the worst when it comes to lane discipline. The Bellandur Lake road is familiar to all of us commuting between Old Airport Road and Bellandur. It's one lane up and one lane down for the most part because of continuous traffic. In the almost one year I've been taking that road, I've never seen a private vehicle cause a jam there because they tried to overtake using the oncoming lane when there was really no chance of doing so. It's always been some cab thug doing that.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by ashokrajagopal

a) The number of cars and honestly, the damn size of the cars.

What is the alternative to cars - having an assured seat, being safe in rain/elements, & not being an organ-donor? BMTC? Does it work for everyone? Does anyone know the departure schedule of any BMTC route, which is consistent? In my experience, BMTC is run as per the driver & conductor's preference.

Coming to EcoSpace & EcoWorld twins, along with Embassy Tech Village, with their 90 degree turn for entry & exit, the traffic is backed up for 5Km on either side - upto HSR on one side and upto Marathhalli Bridge on the other. Clearly, the current infrastructure is poorly designed and what was required hasn't caught up with the need.

[Divya Sharan]

Well BMTC is fairly consistent. At least the 500 series of buses and Volvos that operate on ORR are! I'd say they are on time, sometimes even before time, most of the times.

Keeping Volvos aside, securing a seat primarily depends upon where the pickup point for a passenger is. On a crowd heavy stretch such as ORR, if one boards a bus midway, then s/he shall have to wait for few folk to disembark. Commute duration is also almost on par with cars, add maybe 5-10 min extra for a Hebbal to Devarabisanahalli (New Horizon college/Embassy Tech Village) commute to and fro on a daily basis, if one takes an average.

It takes me an hour by bike, maybe 70-75 min by car and an additional 10 min at most, in a BMTC Volvo during rush hour.

[Nalin1]

Yes, opting for public/office transport will go a long way in reducing congestion. Obviously it is inconvenient for many considering the timings, distance from their homes to the bus stops/pick up points etc. So what do they do? Opt for own transport.

I am one of the few who does not like to go to office at all by car and always use my bike as much as possible. Only going by car once in a while to keep it running during the weekdays.
However, in the last month or so I have started using Quickride and the guilty feeling of filling up road space has reduced a lot! Beneficial for both the riders and the passengers .

I think it is an excellent initiative and must be used to the maximum extent by all. Let this forum spread this message more and more .

[vnabhi]

My daughter commutes 3 days a week to Whitefield from Kodihalli. She used public transport (Volvos) for a year, as the bus stop was close to her residence and work place.

However, for the onward journey, she rarely got a seat, despite the buses turning up every 5 minutes. She had to stand for an hour or 90 minutes, with the laptop bag, causing back pain and also mild suffocation in slow-moving traffic. She therefore forced me to part with my Figo, which she's using for the past 2 years. Though it takes her an hour to go to work and around 90 minutes to return, she feels it is less stressful.

Therefore, there could be many others in a similar situation. Glad to know I am not working in Bangalore.

[ashokrajagopal]

Originally Posted by msdivy

What is the alternative to cars - having an assured seat, being safe in rain/elements, & not being an organ-donor? BMTC? Does it work for everyone? Does anyone know the departure schedule of any BMTC route, which is consistent? In my experience, BMTC is run as per the driver & conductor's preference.

If we are talking about ORR, BMTC buses of all kind are available at good frequency. People do not like to walk even for 100 meters. I have colleagues who commute in car from 500 m into Panathur road to Kbesanahalli ( total 1.2 km) taking 45 minutes. The slowest walk can get you thru 1 km in 30 mins.
And honestly, crowd may be a turn off for many in the buses, but assured seat is a mystery especially in the relatively young crowd. Safe to say people spent 8 hours sitting in office, I dont know why people are after a seat. In peak traffic, I am pretty sure in ORR you can find a BMTC volvo where you can stand without touching each other with just 10 mins wait at the max.

Coming to EcoSpace & EcoWorld twins, along with Embassy Tech Village, with their 90 degree turn for entry & exit, the traffic is backed up for 5Km on either side - upto HSR on one side and upto Marathhalli Bridge on the other. Clearly, the current infrastructure is poorly designed and what was required hasn't caught up with the need.

But doesnt everybody already know that when they are sitting inside their car in the morning ? If you have to get into Ecospace in the morning, a great way to do that is getting out of a BMTC bus before Central, and walking 1 km. You would reach much before your colleagues in car.

Let me just give a background information before I go on with the preaching. I commute in two wheeler and four wheeler; mostly two wheeler. No, it is not because I want to be a good citizen, but I thought it is just good sense to save my own time.

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by ashokrajagopal

And wait before you blame it all on Cab drivers or BMTC drivers. I have seen that more often than not, they pull off a lane switch (avoidable for sure) successfully. Educated, white collared drivers like ourselves are not so successful and end up jamming.

What you said is what I referred to as the maniac yellow boards that cause the jam - the so-called successful lane switch of that genius BMTC or cabbie from the left most to the right or vice versa causes vehicles in 2 adjacent lanes to jam their brakes and creates a few minutes of chaos. I am blessed to do 30 kms everyday on ORR and there's not a single day where a mad manouver by a BMTC or a company bus hasnt caused a jam. If you recollect, the few days of BMTC strike last year and the uber / ola strike earlier this year did result in a few days of peaceful drive, albeit longer driving time due to higher # of vehicles but more disciplined driving

Originally Posted by am1m

Yes, yes, yes! Glad to see there are people who realize the real issue here. I too dislike the cabbies but each TT or bus on the road is actually carrying more people and reducing that many vehicles on the road.

True, but that doesnt mean they are entitled to abuse every single rule in the book

Originally Posted by am1m

But having said all that, the cabbies are really the worst when it comes to lane discipline. The Bellandur Lake road is familiar to all of us commuting between Old Airport Road and Bellandur. It's one lane up and one lane down for the most part because of continuous traffic. In the almost one year I've been taking that road, I've never seen a private vehicle cause a jam there because they tried to overtake using the oncoming lane when there was really no chance of doing so. It's always been some cab thug doing that.

+ 1. I have seen these morons do this even on the road that connects ITPL Road to Mahadevapura regularly. Not just lane discipline, they park where they like (Phoenix Market City is a classic example, despite creating space for cabs, they block 1 lane of the 2 lanes in the road always) and think they are entitled to take a U turn whenever/wherever they please, irrespective of traffic or road width. Result: we all know

Originally Posted by Divya Sharan

Well BMTC is fairly consistent. At least the 500 series of buses and Volvos that operate on ORR are! I'd say they are on time, sometimes even before time, most of the times.

Originally Posted by Nalin1

Yes, opting for public/office transport will go a long way in reducing congestion. Obviously it is inconvenient for many considering the timings, distance from their homes to the bus stops/pick up points etc. So what do they do? Opt for own transport.

True that 500 series is reliable but what about the last and first mile connectivity? That is where Bangalore has an issue. In my instance, I am more than happy to take the 500 series that addresses 80% of my commute
distance but there is just no reliable bus service for the rest 20% and autos are just not an option. If there are autos like Mumbai / Kerala that are willing to come by meter, I am more than happy to ditch the car. If the last mile connectivity issue is addressed, I wouldnt be surprised if a lot more of us switch to the volvos

[venkyhere]

ORR is a textbook of "how not to" in road design. Apart from poor design of flyovers and the entry/exit to/from service roads ; I feel another mega blunder by the authorities is the location of bus stops. Almost every flyover and underpass has a bus stop just before and just after. Goes without saying that there will be entry/exit points near the start/end of flyovers. (worst examples are the 4 of them enclosing the marthahalli underpass)

Frying pan to fire to thermonuclear

[drive2eternity]

Love the ranting here.
Makes me feel relieved that I am not the only one with the thoughts such as - pathetic road manners of cabs, BMTC ditching lane discipline, single occupancy cars, maniac two wheelers, crawling Tata Aces, bully TT fellows and the omnipresent cement mixers coupled with ingenious design of roads and even better 'approval' to make SEZs and TechParks right in the center of a populated city.

I drive to work on the dreaded ORR stretch everyday. I use quickride and get 2-3 passengers. In fact, most of days, I have overbooking and need to reject requests. I stick to lane discipline, speed limits, pedestrian first policy, as much as humanly possible on Bangalore roads.

Now, coming to lane discipline, I have an observation which I would like to present and seek your views.

My morning commutes are a breeze due to my timing.

In my evening commute from Ecospace towards ISRO junction, I stick to the right most lane (supposed to be the fastest one). One benefit of being in this lane is, I have one side of the car shielded from morons and need to worry and save only the left side of the car from scratches, dents, etc. However, in the crawling traffic jams, especially near Horizon College, JP Morgan Underpass and Marathahalli Underpass, I have noticed that the right most lane is the slowest. My reference data has been mentally collected for more than a month. Example, I keep track of any random car which is 2-3 car lengths behind me in the middle lane. By the time I have crossed a traffic crawl, this random car is now either adjacent to me, or worse, ahead of me.

The story repeats at every crawl point.
Most of these crawls are caused by 2 or more BMTC buses, who have zigzagged and parked to pick passengers and then are trying to move ahead. This is happening in the left most lane and causing cars behind to frantically move towards right lanes, causing a mess - understood.
As soon as we cross the bus stop, traffic seems to 'ease' a bit, sometimes even allowing me to use my third gear !

I feel the reason why the right most lane becomes to slowest is either due to:
1. A loaded truck or cement mixer which has occupied the right lane and is now observing the ultimate lane discipline. Such heavy trucks are slow to get going in stop-go traffic, allowing two wheelers and cars to squeeze in front of them. Also, they seem to be more cautious and thus leave just enough space for opportunist two wheelers to again, 'squeeze in', slowing the trucks further in the process.

2. Super slow Tata Aces which have been loaded way beyond their capacity, slowly chugging along in the right most lane. They are lethargic to start and gain speed, spew lot of smoke as they struggle up the inclines and often leave huge open spaces ahead of them, which cars from the middle lanes benefit from.

Have you folks made similar observations?

PS - Such small analysis keeps my mind occupied, allowing me to stay calm in the chaos we lovingly call: Outer Ring Road, Bangalore.

[Nalin1]

Originally Posted by drive2eternity

As soon as we cross the bus stop, traffic seems to 'ease' a bit, sometimes even allowing me to use my third gear !

I feel the reason why the right most lane becomes to slowest is either due to:
1. A loaded truck or cement mixer which has occupied the right lane and is now observing the ultimate lane discipline. Such heavy trucks are slow to get going in stop-go traffic, allowing two wheelers and cars to squeeze in front of them. Also, they seem to be more cautious and thus leave just enough space for opportunist two wheelers to again, 'squeeze in', slowing the trucks further in the process.

2. Super slow Tata Aces which have been loaded way beyond their capacity, slowly chugging along in the right most lane. They are lethargic to start and gain speed, spew lot of smoke as they struggle up the inclines and often leave huge open spaces ahead of them, which cars from the middle lanes benefit from.

Have you folks made similar observations?

PS - Such small analysis keeps my mind occupied, allowing me to stay calm in the chaos we lovingly call: Outer Ring Road, Bangalore.

I agree with your observations! Reminds me of a WhatsApp joke.
Indians do not drive their vehicles. They aim their vehicles in the gaps ahead .