[audioholic]

Originally Posted by srishiva

While driving on ORR I was thinking how this bus lane can work. I drove completely in bus lane and it worked for me

Its like some physics laws that dont work at some levels. These lanes would cause chaos if forced to work. Once metro work starts, it will be one more level of impossible.

Actually I always think that if there are well defined and consistent lane markings on the road, the traffic flow will be smoother. Without this, people create as many lanes as possible, and spend more time minding the sides of the vehicles than going forward at speed. Having consistent lane markings will make people drive more orderly, and this is true in places like the ORR where the road geometry is horribly haphazard with those right sided exits and varying road width. Thats the same way in the bus lane, you feel traffic is moving smooth.

In similar lines, the metro stations under construction between KR Puram and ITPL have poorly designed diversions. This itself creates a lot of slowdown since people keep cutting into each other during these diversions. I hope someone realises this and makes simple changes like providing good lane markings and maintain them. Due to our poor licensing, these days people dont even know how to track a curve or a bend consistently. A car in the left lane during a curve ends up in the right lane, and vice versa in many instances. This will slow down and affect traffic flow badly.

[wildsdi5530]

The solution is not to try and speed up slow vehicles, but to increase the speed of fast vehicles so that average speed goes up. The average speed is the statistically significant one that is quoted by politicians and parroted by the media.
BMTC, cabs, autos, 2-wheelers by definition have to make stops every few 100 Mts. Trucks are again by definition overloaded. Thus the only category of vehicles which can maintain a good speed is private cars. I'm excluding stunting 2-wheelers.
It would be a good idea to have an exclusive car lane which is only 6' wide, (instead of 12' required for buses) at the extreme right next to the median. The minimum speed limit would by 60 kmph, you can enter the lane at an appropriate gap only if your speed is above 60 kmph. No U turns or right turns, all these will be under flyovers. A lane such as this will make Hebbal to Sarjapur road transit time less than 20 mins. Can any other mode of transport be more efficient? in time and also fuel efficiency. Added bonus of reducing pollution too.
Let us all work towards this solution as means of a better future.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by wildsdi5530

The average speed is the statistically significant one that is quoted by politicians and parroted by the media.

What about the number of people that are being moved? Isn't it more efficient/less polluting/etc etc to move 50+ people quicker in each bus than the one-person per car (most commonly) you usually see driving on this road?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

On many occasions I have seen the Mayiladuthurai Express wait at Baiyappanahalli while the Chennai Exp crosses the station. Then the track direction is changed and the former climbs up the ramp leading towards Hosur. Based on this my understanding is local trains from Hosur to Whitefield can stop at Baiyappanahalli and then take the straight route towards Whitefield following the track change.

It is possible to do so, but what I meant was this isnt efficient in the current setup. From Hosur side, once the train descends down the Benniganahalli loop, it has to first join the mainline towards SBC, then switch to the opposite mainline towards BWT and again switch towards the branchline to reach the platform in BYPL. This will create a double block on the lines and also will need platform to be free in BYPL which means superb syncronisation is required in schedules. If the BYPL platform is not free, the train has to wait on the YPR HSRA line above, which will block that line which is a single line. If this train is late, then it will take some time to block all the lines in BYPL to make way for the switchover.

The other blocker being the non electrified section towards hosur. Maybe once it is electrified, you might see these kind of arrangements happening since MEMUs can run on this stretch. In the current state, a DEMU has to be run in case they want to connect Hosur and Whitefield and the availability of DEMUs is not that vast compared to MEMUs, a lot of which were allotted in the past few years compared to almost no new DEMU allotted to SWR.

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by wildsdi5530

It would be a good idea to have an exclusive car lane which is only 6' wide, (instead of 12' required for buses) at the extreme right next to the median. The minimum speed limit would by 60 kmph, you can enter the lane at an appropriate gap only if your speed is above 60 kmph. No U turns or right turns, all these will be under flyovers.

This is really "wild". Are you telling only people going from Silkboard all the way to Hebbal should use this? We reserve the little roadspace we have to very small percentage of users to zip through? The majority of the people using the road are going to their workplaces/homes at various points in between. How will this help any of them?
Any good transport system should move large majority of the people quickly and not give exclusive access to a few.

[PrideRed]

Instead of doing all these circus they should study crucial junctions and work on problems. For example, Kathik Nagar- Why the hell service lane folks are allowed to make U turns, when they can go towards Marathalli and join Ring road. I know Users going towards KR Puram will be impacted, but then why cause problem to majority of users.
Secondly, road crossing- how long does it take to erect a skybridge?Atleast a temporary one?
Another example KR Puram Railway station, how difficult is it to shift Bus stop a little further? Why do you let them stop at junction? Cannot Railways offer 3-4 cents of land for bus stop to benefit its users?

If you analyze most of the bottle necks, there is a easy fix with minimal cost, however the decision makers doesn't seem to make decision based on necessity. I am okay to travel 5-10KM extra if cutting a U turn helps in easing traffic overall. This by far is the biggest concern/problem to me, everyone wants to cut short distance by using the numerous U turns offered and then complain about traffic.

[itwasntme]

Some serious torrential rain in the CBD today around 1530 and later at 1630 on the Hebbal/Bellary Road side.

I enjoyed my drive home as most people had slowed down or stopped. But astonished at the sheer ferocity of the downpour!

Drive safe everyone. Hebbal is unusually choked as of now:

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

. I am okay to travel 5-10KM extra if cutting a U turn helps in easing traffic overall. This by far is the biggest concern/problem to me, everyone wants to cut short distance by using the numerous U turns offered and then complain about traffic.

Another example, the U-turn just ahead of Doddanekundi flyover towards KR Puram. The only people who need that are people working in Bagmane WTC, and they could either go under the flyover, or make the U-turn under the Mahadevapura flyover less than a km ahead. This U-turn was closed for a while a couple years ago and traffic was far less chaotic.

Now there's the added danger of a traffic constable randomly jumping in front of speeding vehicles descending the flyover to enable pedestrians crossing. It's a cringe-inducing experience whether driving or walking. Disaster waiting to happen

[SideView]

I wouldnt blame only infrastructure for the traffic mess that we face everyday.

It is also lack of lane discipline that contributes to traffic headache, i can vouch that if people rather than blocking two/all lanes for taking a U turn get in single queue and not try to jump lines/squeeze and create gridlocks driving would be soo much more stress free.

[wildsdi5530]

Originally Posted by am1m

Isn't it more efficient/less polluting/etc etc to move 50+ people quicker in each bus than the one-person per car?

Specifically talking about the average speed here. Not talking about actual advantages. Increasing average bus speed from 10 kmh to 15 kmh vs increasing a private car stuck behind the bus from 10 kmh to 80 kmh. Reduced travel time will reduce pollution and fuel consumption. And no BRTS is going to stop majority of people from using their private vehicles. Only a few software guys who work in smaller companies which do not provide transport will switch. Executives and business people who mainly cause traffic will continue to use their own vehicles.

Originally Posted by m8002?

Are you telling only people going from Silkboard all the way to Hebbal should use this? We reserve the little roadspace we have to very small percentage of users to zip through?

Not at all. You get to 60 kmh on the common road and enter the fast lane and exit out well before your exit comes up. I don't think majority of the users use the ORR for short distances.
And this road is wide enough for 3 buses to go side by side with 2 more buses in the service lane. Most places it is actually 10 lanes.

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by wildsdi5530

Not at all. You get to 60 kmh on the common road and enter the fast lane and exit out well before your exit comes up. I don't think majority of the users use the ORR for short distances.
And this road is wide enough for 3 buses to go side by side with 2 more buses in the service lane. Most places it is actually 10 lanes.

I would be happy if I get to 30 in any of the stretches on ORR on a weekday. Where do you get the space to go to 60 and change lanes? Most of the traffic on this road is for the IT parks scattered along the stretch. So I feel most of them will only use the road partially.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by wildsdi5530

And no BRTS is going to stop majority of people from using their private vehicles. Executives and business people who mainly cause traffic will continue to use their own vehicles.

Precisely.

So do we want to encourage people to switch by making public transport more efficient? Or do we want to encourage the road users who as you put it 'who mainly cause traffic'?

However efficient, no public transport system is going to stop people from using their private vehicles. What we need to do is provide an efficient alternative for those willing to make the switch. I suspect a lot will. Those that still want to use their cars, can. Right now there is no efficient alternative. Increasing the bus speed is one way of making it a more viable alternative. Increasing the average speed of cars using a separate lane, building flyovers, widening roads, etc. is just going to make more people use their cars till ultimately even those get filled up to full-capacity.

And let's not forget, it's not just us IT guys who can afford cars or whose offices provide cabs who are using the ORR to commute. It's legions of support staff, workers, vendors, tradesmen and several others who also use these roads.

[Mr_Bean]

Originally Posted by m8002?

I would be happy if I get to 30 in any of the stretches on ORR on a weekday. Where do you get the space to go to 60 and change lanes? Most of the traffic on this road is for the IT parks scattered along the stretch. So I feel most of them will only use the road partially.

Leaving at 6:50-7am will ensure those speeds. I cover 22kms (to and from) a day and my daily commute time is 45-55 minutes.


Commute stretch - Koramangala-Marathalli.

[kiran_cr]

News about suburban railway on today's Times of India

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...edium=Referral

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by kiran_cr

News about suburban railway on today's Times of India

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...edium=Referral

Who wants metro train facility on suburban trains. And the launch is by 2026. Looking at the current scenario in Bangalore, hopefully it is not a surprise that many of the companies would have exited the city by 2026.
Rather the govt in tandem with SWR should complete the doubling of Hosur-Baiyyapanhalli stretch, work on track shifting at Baiyyapanahhali so that we can have smooth movement of trains between Hosur and Whitefield.
The govt is in deep slumber. Suburban trains are the only remedy for this city.