[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Wasnt the NICE road concretized? Are there still craters? That road is just blatant fleecing of people who have no other go but to use it.

Only BMIC part is concretised. Not the PRR part. Which means only PESIT to Mysore road part is made of concrete. Rest all is tarred which lasts only till the day it rains

[Acharya]

Friends, if it makes you feel any better, many big cities across the world have similar red lines during peak hours. Take a look here - LA
London


Problem in Bangalore is real apathy of govt towards City Infra & planning, which, by and large, is common across India.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Acharya

many big cities across the world have similar red lines during peak hours.

It is this statement that keeps the spirits of this thread and the commuters high. Oh, it is the same statement which makes the authorities assume that everything is normal .

[Acharya]

Are authorities even bothered to look at other cities, I guess they are busy counting... you know what!!

[SR-71]

Originally Posted by Acharya

Are authorities even bothered to look at other cities, I guess they are busy counting... you know what!!

No ! Lets be fair ! They do bother to look at other cities, infact they are very interested and take the effort to travel to different counties. Except that they dont bother to use the trip study the way these international cities solve the problem and try to use the knowledge back at home

On a more serious note, the problem is part infrastructure and part attitude. Yes the infrastructure is bad, there is no two ways about it. But what makes it worse is the way the folks drive in our city. A 3 lane road will have 6 - 7 lanes of vehicle standing in parallel specially at signals & junctions. And once a signal turns green everyone wants to get ahead. The distance between the vehicles (on all sides) can be measured with a metric scale ruler that we used to use in school. All of these adds up significantly to the stress of driving.

Dense traffic in peak hours is not unique to Bangalore. Anyone who drives in the bay area will know how insane the traffic can get during peak hours. But what makes is less stressful is the relatively better driving sense among the drivers and smoother tarmac. Its my personal belief that we can fix all the infrastructure we want in Bangalore, but the stress involves in driving in the city will only reduce a bit, not eliminated. I have stopped commuting to office for better part of the week simply to avoid the dreaded KR Puram junction & now the added burden of ORR in & around Manyata !

[atnyia]

While I personally admire Bangaloreans' road manners and patience during the perpetual traffic jams, there are some quirks to each place you go.

NCR is all about cutting each other for micro inches alongwith mindless honking. The moment the foot hits the brake, the palm automatically goes to the horn pad.

Pune is where helmets are for sissies and wrong side riding is widely believed to be legal. Perhaps, the most weird part is how two wheeler guys make a right turn. Instead of sticking to right lane, they go to extreme left, pause and go fully across to left lane of opposite side of the road; like a pedestrian.

In Indore, cars are invisible to ALL two wheeler riders. Also, wearing seat belts is considered offensive. We got a very hard stare from a policeman on a signal where both the driver and the copassanger both belted up. Worse, I had both hands on steering. It seemed to me that he never had seen a sight like this before.

In Bangalore, despite its chocked and sometimes non existent roads, traffic is well behaved, given how dire are the circumstances.

However, school buses are driven extremely rashly. I learnt it quickly.

There is another new thing which I learnt here to beware of. Dios. You have no idea which way these guys gonna go, and when. These are 'fukre' guys seeking cheap thrills on a budget. On Friday, I was Dio-ed so bad while merging on the main road that I stalled my car. I am so shaken that I have added them to my 'right of way' list. It usually included people with tell tale signs like <Caste> Boys, threewheelers, Haryana Roadway, side RVM closed guys etc. Dio guys, you suck. I have ridden it. It is not as controllable as you think.

[hrman]

Thursday evening was a disastrous ride back from work for me. What takes typically 45 mins to 1 hour ended up taking 2.5 hours. My journey from Kormangala to Hulimavu (8.5 km) took me through 1 hour of jam at tavarekere road (Storm water drains dug up and concrete slabs being fixed on an already narrow market road) 20 minutes wait at Udipi garden signal, the connecting road before brand factory on Bannerghata road closed for drainage work. It was utter chaos everywhere. In my 11 years at Bangalore, I have never cursed the authorities as much as I did that day.

Perennial and slowest Metro work, extremely poor quality pothole filled roads, underground sewage pipes leaking and arterial roads closed for repair, rain making matters worse.

And the state government turning a blind eye, perhaps looking at when they will get the next big project/ natural disaster and swindle the city's tax payers of their hard earned money. The worthless head of state is asking for 8500 crores from the central govt for flood relief. What is he doing with the 1000s of crores of tax money collected. Perhaps filling their own pockets. This is my first heartfelt rant on the bangalore traffic. When will things change?

[B103]

Originally Posted by hrman

And the state government turning a blind eye, perhaps looking at when they will get the next big project/ natural disaster and swindle the city's tax payers of their hard earned money. The worthless head of state is asking for 8500 crores from the central govt for flood relief. What is he doing with the 1000s of crores of tax money collected. Perhaps filling their own pockets. This is my first heartfelt rant on the Bangalore traffic. When will things change?

I was sick for last 2 weeks and got a breather from the normal routine to contemplate my life. Took a pen and paper and started writing down about problems that is impacting my life and well-being. Some of the points that came to my mind are:

1) Going to office and coming back. My home is 9 km way from office (Mahadevapura) but commute has grown to be extremely painful

As a spill over effect, people are now willing to do anything to circumvent the traffic block, be it driving on footpath or on wrong side of the road. An auto driver on the wrong side scratched the entire left side of our car while it was stuck in the traffic in proper lane. Another observation is that, people are so freaking frustrated that incidents of squabble in a fit of exasperation and rage are on the rise.

2) Flyovers, underpasses and some other sections of road getting under water within an hour of rain

3) Poor quality of air

4) Tanker water which is not even fit to flush toilets

5) Many cases of infections like Dengue, Chickenpox, Jaundice etc


As India's IT capital, Bangalore had done the entire country proud in the last 15+ years. No other Indian city is as renowned and even feared as Bangalore in capital cities all over the world.

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com...le20909098.ece

As per this link, Bangalore was expected to employ 80 lac people directly by 2020. In 2014 itself, city contributed $45 billion which is 38 per cent of India’s total IT exports and $33 billion was from exports.

Sadly, the city had become a victim of its own success and is a mess now. It is a classic case study of how India can screw things up badly from the verge of success. I believe this would not have happened in another developed country because they plan things first and then do things which work as per plan. We do things first without planning and any clue of what is going to come later and then react in a knee jerk way later when things don't work later. Government machinery is also corrupt that all what they are interested is making money when sun shines.

My colleagues from Western countries visiting Bangalore are appalled to see the pathetic condition of the city as it wont match up with the second or third tier software infrastructure in their countries. On one side, India is unable to do the basic upkeep of a high profile place like Bangalore. It is so ironical, that Government insists a dithering state like Kashmir join the union without doubts about their future well being. In whatever way I think, it appears hilarious because the very proof is in the pudding itself

[sachinpk]

Not a very bad Monday morning (touchwood!). Got a call from the Transport team that my scheduled cab has "broken down". It was at around 0715Hrs and I was already waiting for it. Decided to take a chance and drive down to office. Things were not that bad, BETL had a very small traffic jam (of around 5-8 mins) and swiped into office at 0820Hrs. If I go by cab, I generally swipe in by 0915Hrs - the only bonus being I get a good sleep of around 40 mins.

Originally Posted by B103

I was sick for last 2 weeks and got a breather from the normal routine to contemplate my life.

The city is rife with Dengue and Viral fever. I was down with it for 2 days, now XYL and harmonic has also got it. And yes at times, I felt that the two days rest actually helped me a lot - that is avoiding the commute to office. It was at that point of time I also realised that commute has also started taking its toll on me. The first generation of IT programmers (who may have joined their careers in 1995-2000 time frame) would sooner or later have their ages catching up with them. I think there would be more requests for "work from homes" or limiting commute to a few days etc. The younger lot may be able to push forward for some more time.

Sadly, the city had become a victim of its own success and is a mess now. It is a classic case study of how India can screw things up badly from the verge of success.

There is no point in blaming India as a whole for poor planning of certain cities. Delhi Metro is also in India, and that was a project which was executed very well and have benefited lots of people. Konkan Railway was a project done by the railways which reduced travel time and benefited lots of West-South (and back) travelling crowd. Hyderabad made a good airport as well as a good ring road which made criss crossing the place very easy. Hyderabad authorities also clearly demarcated the IT and non-IT areas.

Considering the federal system/nature of our governance; developing Bangalore was the primary responsibility of the respective state. In year 2000 +/- two years we had a CM who boasted that Bangalore would be the Singapore of India . The gentleman is still around, but there is no such grandoise opinions from his side. The city and state has been very welcoming to the new immigrants from other part of India. But the elected officials and the bureaucracy did not scale up, or did they improve their decision making process. Every one went on a quick money making mode.

On one side, India is unable to do the basic upkeep of a high profile place like Bangalore. It is so ironical, that Government insists a dithering state like Kashmir join the union without doubts about their future well being.

Bangalore is not a union territory, it is part of Karnataka state and the state capital. Karnataka state has legislative assembly, and also has the rights to plan and approve its own budgets. So nothing stops them from developing the city in a way they please. Why bring in Kashmir to this thread? Kashmir's problem was terrorism and seccession (and perhaps freeloaders as citizenry). Bengaluru's case is way too different. Blaming Govt. of India for the mismanagament of a state's capital is not right in my humble opinion.

[B103]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

Considering the federal system/nature of our governance; developing Bangalore was the primary responsibility of the respective state. In year 2000 +/- two years we had a CM who boasted that Bangalore would be the Singapore of India . The gentleman is still around, but there is no such grandoise opinions from his side. The city and state has been very welcoming to the new immigrants from other part of India. But the elected officials and the bureaucracy did not scale up, or did they improve their decision making process. Every one went on a quick money making mode.

With respect to finer details, you are right. I agree. There are some caveats to it.

Lot of MNCs have their captive centers in Bangalore. Many of the Indian services companies also have their biggest offices in Bangalore.

Every week, so many foreigners travel into the city because of work. They have a different expectation before first arrival and feels appalled seeing the conditions later. Most of them don't get to that level of understanding that the mess is because of poor planning by abc or xyz organisation related to a local administration etc. Personally, I was embarrassed more than once listening related feedback.

It is a double edged sword. On one side, Bangalore's software prowess has awed the world about India. On the other side, woeful state of Bangalore had also reflected poorly on brand India.

[ShivrajG]

Hello Everyone,

Mods: Please move to appropriate thread if this has been discussed.

We have recently moved to Bangalore in Aug 2019, I heard a lot of good things about Bengaluru and its people. We moved from Pune and Weather treated us with an awe & we loved the environment.

One thing we didn't like about Bengaluru was rampant wrong side driving on the Neelamangala to Peenya flyover (both sides) and hated it to the core (we stay near the highway). I mean who gets a truck on the wrong side at speeds of 50-60 kmph . We accepted it thinking OK maybe thats the law here.

However things went crazy yesterday when on the Peenya flyover a RITZ taxi driver coming in from the LHS was trying to push me and get a space to overtake (dude I am in the RHS lane and moving at 60-70 where will I go?) would've given him side once I could, however this guy rammed brute on LHS passenger side. I tried slowing down on LHS he over took and stopped in front. Three people came out reeking of alcohol (5 PM in the evening) and started abusing me in Kannada and some hindi. I am a Maharashtrian and speak Marathi, English and Hindi fluently and have a very vast vocab of Hindi abuses. I accept! I dint hold back as it was not my fault and they were evidently trying to extort money. During this argument the driver hit me and that was it I lost my cool and it was all about rage from there.

My wife came in to get me out of the scuffle (3 to 1) however those guys hit my wife. All hell was loose and I gave them a taste of their own medicine however to amusement the locals speaking kannada started hitting me instead of stopping a fight, people started hitting me from here and there and that’s where I saw the spirit of Bengaluru (its down in the drain) you see a man over powered with a lady trying to save him and you cowards hit start hitting them since they are not able to communicate in a language understandable to you? But anyways me and wife we maybe a regular office going people but we are trained in our school life to handle such situations.

Thankfully a Marathi speaking guy came in once he saw regn No. of my vehicle and helped my wife to get into car and directed me as well to remain seated, meanwhile there was a huge pileup on the flyover. I wanted to go to the nearest police station but those guys blocked the way and were not letting us. My wife called up 100 and the fun started then the control room lady doesn't understand Hindi or English which is totally understandable, we somehow gave them our location and they informed that the PCR is on its way. In the meanwhile a Decent Bengaluru Citizen who was a serving BSF personnel came along and understood the situation. He was speaking Kannada and English to my relief and said the other guy is saying that you are drunk and rammed the car. I gave him a quick breath test and said my car is rammed from behind and showed him injury to my wife as well. He quickly understood what happened and escorted us out of the flyover.

We stopped at a junction and called up the PCR again they were on the way and then came this traffic constable on the call of the Cab guy and started questioning me if I am drunk and asking me for my Driving license I told him you can see the license but I have called PCR and they are on the way. I told him that guys hit my wife as well and in the scuffle they were passing weird remarks as well. Instead of paying heed to my pleads he ask me why did I hit the guy, I said it was self-defense and that’s my right to even kill a person if they are trying to assault me. He said this doesn’t looks like a self-defense when one guy is black and blue and you are with bruises. (I said quietly in my mind that it was not even close to what I could've done).

The BSF guys helped us out in this situation and explained to the PCR and the traffic cops that who was at fault and finally they said you can say sorry to each other and move on or can go to the PS and file a complaint, me and my wife were not ready to let them go but the situation is we don’t speak the language and we didn’t wanted the hassle, if it would have been a Hindi speaking place I wouldn’t have budged but yes that’s how it is. He said sorry I said fine and moved on.

But thats not the point, the point is I was amazed at the apathy shown towards a fellow citizen just because he was not able to clearly communicate with the cops and had non KA registered vehicle. The BSF guy told me that this happens and they try to extort in this way. The traffic cop came before the PCR on the call of the Cab guys which clearly paints the picture to the nexus.

We hated the traffic of this place and now we hate the people as well and not because we got into fight with three of them because the others who were passerby they hit us just because we couldn’t speak the language.

I am from MP and have been to Himachal, UP, Haryana, MP, Rajashthan, Goa in my car and have never seen such hostile behavior that too by a crowd. It’s not about road rage it’s about the People's attitude towards other people. On the brighter side the BSF guys helped us out even though they were travelling with family and spent next 30-40 mins with us to safeguard us says a lot about the actual people here.

I have seen Pune police treating people who dont speak Marathi equally and if proven not wrong helping them as well. Oh Man! This was a very bad experience for me and my wife and we have been scarred for life with this place. We will complete our stint here and move back as soon as we can.

In the end I would like to say I dont know where we are headed as a society but the road ahead seems dark.
I hope this phase gets over quickly and I am back to my place in Pune.

PS: I understand Fellow Bangalore BHPians here may not like my post and this is not to offend anyone or a culture but it’s a personal opinion of me and what happened with me and would respect your opinion as well.
Regards
Shivraj S Ghorpade

[am1m]

Am very sorry to hear of your experience. Kudos to you for standing up for what was correct and for defending your wife. I would have completely lost it too in your place, but don't think I would have handled myself as well. Pathetic to hear how the cops advise people to 'say sorry' in such situations when several laws have clearly been broken. But am not surprised, pathetic policing and law enforcement is one of the many, many reasons why this city is the way it is.

Totally sympathize with your expressing your desire to leave this city. I'm a local, born in Bangalore, raised here, speak the language, have my own house here but seeing what this city has become, I too think of leaving at least once or twice in a day! I just don't see things improving. The systemic and planning failures are across government departments and private enterprises, the rule-breaking is across all socio-economic statuses and irrespective of education or backgrounds. I've personally lost hope. The money coming in is still good, so it makes sense to continue till that goes on, that's pretty much it.

[Engine_Roars]

This sucks. I don't know when will people understand that is no fun for people like you and me to leave their homes/cities/countries to move to an entirely new & unknown place. We do it out for our families, for we want to provide them the best of lives & in turn to live a decent & fulfilling life. I hope you come out of this as soon as possible. Road ahead is tough but you got to forget it and move on.

Having said that, I would not generalize entire population based on your one experience. I am from Rajasthan & have been living in Pune since last 7 years. I have not had this kind of experience so far thankfully but I have had my fair share of bad experiences because of my origin. There are all kinds of people, you just need to chose your battles wisely. You should have stayed in the car, should have reached the nearest police station and if they had blocked you, you should have tried calling police control room instead of getting out and dealing with those rowdies.

[ninjatalli]

I always see Bangalore(-ans) in a Dr.Jeckyll and Hyde modes; the former during non-peak hours on relatively empty roads with minimal honking and pleasant non-stressful riding; and the latter during peak hours with everyone fighting as if they are on life support and getting a few feet ahead of the next bike/car is crucial to your survival. And that is always a vicious cycle with even sane folks getting stressed out and driving like idiots.

Originally Posted by Acharya

Friends, if it makes you feel any better, many big cities across the world have similar red lines during peak hours.

That might be true, but be in the middle of a traffic jam in such cities; you'll see lane sense, some common sense in handling diversions and lane merges and abundant patience. Something our cities seem to lack even more when the traffic goes up.

Originally Posted by SR-71

But what makes it worse is the way the folks drive in our city.
...
Anyone who drives in the bay area will know how insane the traffic can get during peak hours. But what makes is less stressful is the relatively better driving sense among the drivers and smoother tarmac. Its my personal belief that we can fix all the infrastructure we want in Bangalore, but the stress involves in driving in the city will only reduce a bit, not eliminated.

+1

Same in case of NY and NJ; I have been stuck up in peak traffic crossing the river for more than an hour; but the only constraint had been the time duration; never the stress levels seen out here. Here in Bangalore, it is a competition for literally a few feet, during every second spent in a jam.

In the end, the city can keep improving infrastructure, but till we start driving cars sensibly and not go-karting during peak hours, the problem is never going to be resolved.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by B103

Every week, so many foreigners travel into the city because of work. They have a different expectation before first arrival and feels appalled seeing the conditions later. Most of them don't get to that level of understanding that the mess is because of poor planning by abc or xyz organisation related to a local administration etc. Personally, I was embarrassed more than once listening related feedback.

I do understand that part, but there is no point in blaming an unconnected entity (eg: Govt. of India) for a mess which has been created by the local self government. And to be honest; if GoI says that it can take over Bangalore the state government may accept it. Because it finds one entity, which it can now constantly blame and pass the buck :. We have a civic agency who was willing to hand over a dirty lake to the Indian Army, because they had promised to clean it up (and also do their water training there). There would be many who deal with non-Indian customers/clients on a regular basis; but there are even more number of people who don't have to do that. For example, for a local auto rickshaw driver he has no kind of embarassment for what a non-Indian person thinks about his behaviour. For that driver the maximum requirements are to escape the police and make a daily living.