[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by OrangeCar

Something very strange on Sarjapura Road today..

I was stunned and rendered speechless.

A small section, near Carmelaram, about 300mts to 500mts of fresh road was laid. Very thin layer of asphalt, but still, a fresh layer of ashpalt.

It has been years since I have seen this.

Originally Posted by sairamboko

I noticed the entire stretch from Carmelaram railway station junction to Carmelaram post office tarred! Not sure if the entire Sarjapur Road from Colombia Asia hospital till Carmelaram will be tarred.

Has been tarred and kind of widened to 6 lane. Tarring is done till Wipro and in patches thereafter till the lake. Will be done till Columbia Asia as far as I know.

Still too little , too late, but may give some small relief.

[jkrishnakj]

Wish they divert some of the Tarring work to Haralur Road as well. The entire stretch from Sarjapur Road to Ambalipura , Haralur and beyond is so so so so bad.. it takes a lot of endurance to cover that stretch. Funny part is , there are a few speed breakers that still remain intact on that stretch.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Still too little , too late, but may give some small relief.

Days are not far when we hear it out over various FM channels about a newly constructed apartment blocks "Just 2 Minutes away from the newly tarred 6 lane expressway". One of the meanest of ways to mislead prospective buyers .

[itwasntme]

Got a call from a headhunter based out of Delhi whose top 5 initial queries included where I stay in BLR :-).

Seems they have had a spate of last minute candidate pullouts coupled with resignations from their BLR clients, simply due to traffic and traffic-related ailment issues. As a result, both they and their clients are assessing commute times just as carefully as any of the other top considerations.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Got a call from a headhunter based out of Delhi whose top 5 initial queries included where I stay in BLR :-).

Seems they have had a spate of last minute candidate pullouts coupled with resignations from their BLR clients, simply due to traffic and traffic-related ailment issues. As a result, both they and their clients are assessing commute times just as carefully as any of the other top considerations.

I am not surprised, one of the questions my candidates always ask is the location of the client within Bangalore.
But since I deal with only senior folks, remote work option is always provided and hence not a major concern. Yes, location and traffic congestion in Bangalore plays a key part of final decision process.

[itwasntme]

Hebbal level crossing might be reopened for City-bound traffic!

https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.c...w/68913144.cms

[unk9ja]

A new gap in median is being opened up in front of Oxford engineering college. Although there are barricades placed, I am seeing some cabs trying to squeeze through. This is now becoming a perfect receipe for disaster.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by speedmeister

I am not surprised, one of the questions my candidates always ask is the location of the client within Bangalore.

This has been an important question; when I think about a job change & also when interviewing candidates for job openings in the organisation. Commute time to my previous organisation was 3 hrs (up and down) by car and 5 hrs by BMTC. The office working hours also were not India friendly. The present one is better, commute timings are 2 hrs (up and down) by car, and the traffic conditions are more predictable. One of my main reasons for a job change was the harrowing commuting experience and some employee unfriendly policies of the organisation.

Today if I am looking to fulfill an open position in my team, I double check on the residential area of the candidate; his planned mode of transport and also on the demands of "work from homes" etc. Potential candidates may also show more eagerness in order to get the offer letter, but within a few weeks the true colours would come out. So I feel it is always better to set the expectation at the very start. A lot of young folks also now take the traffic situation as an "excuse" for poor performance, less time in office; which I feel is also only a cover up for their poor work ethics.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

A lot of young folks also now take the traffic situation as an "excuse" for poor performance, less time in office; which I feel is also only a cover up for their poor work ethics.

It is quite possible that traffic is being used as an excuse to cover for poor performance in general. But it is also undeniable that the kind of traffic we have here in Bangalore and the almost daily upsetting incident/run-in with other morons on the road will have an effect on your mind when you get in to work.

I can see a marked difference in my peace of mind while commuting to this new location (Bellandur, ORR) as opposed to my old office location (Residency Road). While I agree one must be professional and not let it affect your work, it is also high time that companies start looking at flexible work-from-home policies, relocation to near metro stations, several smaller facilities instead of one gigantic facility, etc. (IMHO even 2 hours is a bad commute. It's 2 hours spent driving/being driven in city traffic which IMHO is a completely useless activity. The fact that 2 hrs is now acceptable in Bangalore just goes to show how bad things have gotten.)

Ensuring that people don't abuse flexible policies is another matter altogether and a blanket ban on flexible policies is not the solution.

[reignofchaos]

SH35 flooded due to heavy rains near gunjur. Almost 1.5-2 ft of water. Please try and avoid this stretch today. I was scared that my car would stall. It was real bad.

[NPV]

Had to visit couple places today to attend events - one near Devanahalli and the other near Hope Farm! Wouldn't have bothered to try it if it wasn't to meet very close relatives and friends

Contrary to my apprehensions, traffic was quite decent almost the entire route. Had planned to go from Devanhalli to Whitefield via Mundur, Budigere but had enough time, so returned home for a short break before embarking on the journey to Whitefield.

Old Madras Road-KR Puram was choc-a-block as usual but it was fine after that - took the Battarahalli-Ayyapanagar-Hoodi-ITPL-Hope Farm route. Returned via Old Airport road and it was a breeze. The Varthur bridge and Kundalahalli underpass work has just begun but I think it will be messier (and very slow) in the months to come.

Looks like lot of people are out of Bangalore, possibly to cast their votes in neighboring towns/states and a long weekend coming up for some.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by am1m

It is quite possible that traffic is being used as an excuse to cover for poor performance in general. But it is also undeniable that the kind of traffic we have here in Bangalore and the almost daily upsetting incident/run-in with other morons on the road will have an effect on your mind when you get in to work.

I fall in the latter bucket, commute quality definitely affects frame of mind at work, we're not robots to switch on/off at the door. I set standards high for me and my team, but I'm flexible with where and when they work as long as the jobs get done to the best quality possible.

There's only so far poor work ethic can be hidden behind excuses. Doesn't work longer-term, though getting Indian managers to buy into the mindset is a huge challenge.

start looking at flexible work-from-home policies, relocation to near metro stations

That's what I did with a recent relocation. Everyone I spoke to thought I was crazy not to move as close to work as possible, but I like the area I live in and the overall quality of life it offers to me & my spouse, and living closer to a place is no guarantee of a faster commute in Bangalore anyway. I've reached my workplace on ORR faster from Banashankari sometimes than my colleague who commutes from HSR Layout. My new home is 200 meters from a metro station that will be operational sometime in 2020 (current nearest stop is still a reasonable 3 kms away) and has a direct line to a stop less than a km from my workplace. Once fully operational, I'll possibly commute faster (and better) than ones living 'closer' to work.

Ensuring that people don't abuse flexible policies is another matter altogether and a blanket ban on flexible policies is not the solution.

This happened at my workplace. A trial blanket ban actually made productivity worse, and the 'at manager discretion' policy was reinstated within a year. Like I said earlier, one could possibly hide poor work ethic behind excuses for a while, but it doesn't work longer-term. It's true the other way round too, bad hiring decisions can't be hidden very long behind bad policies.

[am1m]

Good Bangalore public transport experience to share- last night's heavy rain, had taken the bike to the gym, so was stuck. Had an interview with a US-based person later that night, so had to get home in time for that. Of course, no Ubers or Olas - either unavailable or they would cancel (since they have now started behaving exactly like auto drivers these days!). Finally abandoned the bike in the basement parking and walked to a bus stop. Got a bus back home in 5 minutes at 9:30 pm. Got back home with enough time to spare for a dinner and a hot bath in time for the interview! Funnily enough, caught the same bus this morning with the same conductor to head back to the gym to pick up my bike!

Obviously, was lucky, but imagine a city where public transportation was this dependable and getting places at anytime is not even a consideration, no matter the weather! Bangalore could make it happen. But the 'car and widen road' mindset has to change.

(Am quite determined to leave this pathetic ORR location where I currently work. Aggressively pursuing opportunities at companies located near Metro stations only! Putting my money where my mouth is, am willing to take a pay cut to make that happen, there's more to life than sitting in traffic twice a day!)

[theexperthand]

Originally Posted by unk9ja

A new gap in median is being opened up in front of Oxford engineering college. Although there are barricades placed, I am seeing some cabs trying to squeeze through. This is now becoming a perfect receipe for disaster.

Had a near mishap and an emergency braking when a cabbie on left lane suddenly decided to switch lanes to take the U-turn, witch scan regard to the vehicles in the other two lanes. I was on the rightmost lane (Coming from Silkboard) and had to do an emergency braking, and missed T-boning the cab by inches.

The way I see it, the main benefactors for this U-turn will be the residents of Salarpuria Greenage and to a certain extent, the traffic in and out of Oxford college and AMR tech park.

--Anoop

[AltoLXI]

Came across this hilarious video by Danish Sait of "Humble Politician Nograj" fame on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CEdxMVBTMc