[mvadg]

Originally Posted by drive2eternity

... I shudder to think how villainous these folks are, rubbing salt to open wounds of the public.

Exactly my thoughts every time I go over the speedbreakers on Hosur Rd.

Did you know there is a 30 kmph speed limit near the emergency layby on the BETL flyover? To top it off, the entry and exit from this section has to be nearly perpendicular to the general road direction because of the way unnecessary barriers have been placed?! I wonder why such unscientific schemes are not reviewed by higher officials. I'm still not sure how speeding vehicles are supposed to obey this 30 kmph requirement.

[Malyaj]

Recently I was returning from Sakra hospital after getting my mother discharged post knee replacement surgery. I thought I will make it home (just ahead of Karthik Nagar on ORR) in about 30 mins. Took over an hour and my mother struggled big time, so much that I almost started panicking. I regretted turning down the suggestion of using an ambulance.

Originally Posted by am1m

...There is a lot more to life than being stuck in Bangalore traffic for 2 hours a day. (And I've done that for several years!) I'm ok missing out on some things if it means I can avoid going back to that nightmare.

You are absolutely right in prioritising peace of mind over some bit of career progression. There is no escaping the traffic nightmare in Bangalore on any route. Its like being checkmated on the chess board. In one of our Whatsapp groups someone placed a bet on how long a newly laid road in the vicinity will last. Someone said 3 months. Another said one month. Guess who won?

[vandemanw]

https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/cit...s-1130072.html

Found this article today. Is it really true that the traffic situation at the city’s worst junction is a bit better?

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Malyaj

There is no escaping the traffic nightmare in Bangalore on any route. Its like being checkmated on the chess board.

That's exactly how I used to feel! At a previous job in the notorious Bellandur-ORR area, I literally tried everything over the period of two years that I was there. Left early, left late. Used the bike, used side roads, took different routes. Tried taking the bus (had to switch 2 buses). Tried car-pooling, taxis. Didn't make any difference. Like you put it, checkmate. (Bangalore traffic is a GrandMaster- checkmates you in a few moves whatever opening game you try!) I've been stuck in jams as early as 7:30am and as late as 10:30pm. And now with the Metro construction going on there, I can't imagine what the scene is like. Just not worth it anymore, whatever the other perks that are on offer. At least not for me.

Funny thing is now that I use the Metro a lot more, I'm seeing more of Bangalore, places I've not been to before or rarely even though I grew up here, simply because they have a metro station. The Metro is the only sensible way to commute in this city, I hope the network grows and at a much faster rate.

[Malyaj]

Originally Posted by am1m

Funny thing is now that I use the Metro a lot more, I'm seeing more of Bangalore, places I've not been to before or rarely even though I grew up here, simply because they have a metro station. The Metro is the only sensible way to commute in this city, I hope the network grows and at a much faster rate.

I have said this on various social media groups and saying this again. People need to give public transport a chance, even if it is one day a week. I can understand some people struggle with last mile connectivity, but is one day out of 5 really that difficult for young able bodied people? Have we become that soft? Do we want to be part of the problem or part of the solution? The thing is that many are eagerly waiting for Metro so that others can use it and the road can be freed up for their cars (not referring to you but a general mindset).

If everyone decides to take public transport once a week (assuming 5 working days), private vehicles will reduce by 20%. That 20% can make a lot of difference. Imagine twice a week and we are reducing private vehicles by almost half. Huge difference.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Malyaj

I can understand some people struggle with last mile connectivity, but is one day out of 5 really that difficult for young able bodied people? Have we become that soft?

Will give you another example from that same Bellandur area. The IT Park I used to work at had a 1km driveway entrance. Horrible design- single entry-exit road with vehicles pouring out and in at around the same time everyday. Thing is they had also put a nice broad walkway on both sides. Well-paved, grass alongside, trees for shade. It was a very pleasant walk, especially considering the jam that could on a bad day (and there were at least 2 bad days a week!) take you up to 20mins even by bike. Yet people would queue up and wait for the shuttle bus! Which also was stuck in the same jam! People don't want to walk. They'd rather take their cars and get stuck in jams. In any sensible scenario, they would have built a multi-level parking with several underground levels as well, right at the entrance of that IT park and made the rest of the campus pedestrian/cycle/e-shuttle vehicle only. Would have reduced at least 15+15 mins x 1000s of employees man-hours stuck in the entrance/exit jam every day. Not to mention the reduction in pollution of all those vehicles idling and inching along that 1km 2 times a day. And for years they had the land right at the entrance to do that! But no, the greedy builders put up yet another glass tower there at the entrance. And the companies responded by adding more cabs to feed more people into that same jam.

Originally Posted by Malyaj

The thing is that many are eagerly waiting for Metro so that others can use it and the road can be freed up for their cars

That will never happen. Look at Delhi, very good metro coverage now but still crazy traffic. What a good metro network will do is give those of us who opt to use it an alternative to escape this madness. Those who still want to stay in traffic, will have all the opportunities to do so, the Metro will not change that, just solve it for those who choose to use it. Thankfully, the ridership is increasing in Bangalore. In time with better connectivity in 5-7 years, we will be able to cover more of the city using it and have even fewer reasons to wade in to the traffic mess.

[Ragul]

Not sure if it is already reported here but I discovered a scam run by traffic cops on the way from Hennur Jn to Hebbal. A Police van with speed radar is always posted there to catch people for over-speeding. And guess what? The entire stretch all the way from KRPuram to Yeshwanthpur stn has regular speed signages of 50kmph - except this one board exactly 25mtrs after where the police radar van is parked - Here the speed signage says 40kmph!! Everytime a bewildered driver asks how they exceeded the speed limit the cops point to this board 25mtrs ahead. Never mind that the previous signage was 50kmph and the drivers were mindful about it.

Now count 300 days per year x 50 fines per day at a low estimate out of which 25 bribe their way out of a speeding ticket and you can smell the dead rat of a scam!

How many of you FMs have been victims of this scam here?

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by am1m

... Thankfully, the ridership is increasing in Bangalore. In time with better connectivity in 5-7 years, we will be able to cover more of the city using it and have even fewer reasons to wade in to the traffic mess.

Like you, I use the metro quite a lot and have been to places I'd never otherwise bother to visit. But there are hurdles to using the metro that will NEVER be removed because they are deliberate. While most of us can easily take our own vehicles up to the boarding metro station, there is near zero connectivity from the destination metro station, except for some faux autorickshaws. Metro feeders have been shelved, and none of the bus routes start from any metro station (except Majestic - here again they seem to have made it as difficult as possible to use it as a transit point) or even have bus routes that stop at metro stations - again seems to be some policy decision.

The metro network will grow, but will continue to serve a small fraction of the population that desire to use it. The size of the stations, the frequency, and the length of the metro trains all point to what our planners are thinking - traffic jams forever!

[drive2eternity]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Going OT, but why & how is that vindictive, villanous and spiteful? It is not like BTP alone created the traffic mess or setup a free path to issue tickets They are just doing one of their work.

It is about mindset. The poor driver has been lugging his car in 1st and 2nd gear for kilometers and then gets an open stretch and exactly there you put a speed gun. Not evil? To add, see what Ragul posted, they have altered the speed limits exactly for that open stretch (it seems). Not evil?

Originally Posted by Ragul

Not sure if it is already reported here but I discovered a scam run by traffic cops on the way from Hennur Jn to Hebbal. A Police van with speed radar is always posted there to catch people for over-speeding. And guess what? The entire stretch all the way from KRPuram to Yeshwanthpur stn has regular speed signages of 50kmph - except this one board exactly 25mtrs after where the police radar van is parked - Here the speed signage says 40kmph!!

How many of you FMs have been victims of this scam here?

I saw this on Saturday, loads of cars getting caught. Luckily I hadn't sped, might have been at 40-45kph and hence was not stopped.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by mvadg

...there is near zero connectivity from the destination metro station, except for some faux autorickshaws.

Yes, you are absolutely right. Some of the decisions related to the Metro in Bangalore seem so downright short-sighted and stupid, it must be malicious and deliberate because you can't imagine any rational decision maker at that level could be that brain-impaired or blind to the ground realities.

When they spend thousands of crores on constructing the metro and can't spare a few crores to construct over bridges, when they can't repair the footpaths leading to the station, or even can't keep all entrances to each station open during working hours (one of the entrances to the Indiranagar metro station remains inexplicably locked during peak hours, only opens in the afternoon, leading to a totally avoidable and needless rush at the gates at the other entrance/exit and forces people to cross a busy road unnecessarily).

When they can spend hundreds crores in compensation and years in court to acquire properties along the route to construct the Metro yet don't think it makes sense to spend the few extra crores required to acquire a couple more properties adjacent to each station to provide for parking.

The less said about the co-ordination between BMRCL and BMTC the better. I tried using the feeder buses when they 'launched' them, it was designed to fail from the start- the fault was with BMTC they didn't want to run those routes. Same with the co-ordination between Indian Railways and BMRCL. Always seems like the PMO has to step in to sort each silly issue out.

What is difficult to comprehend is that they have solved the really difficult issues - I mean tunneling through Bangalore's hard rocky ground, or even constructing the elevated section in the midst of this density is a marvelous feat of organization, engineering, planning, logistics, execution. Why do we screw up the laughably easy stuff that is as important in making the Metro more accessible and easy to use?!

Still, still I will say even with all this, the Metro is a better alternative to Bangalore traffic and it will get better as the reach expands. And the reality is that the traffic situation will only get worse, how many trees are left anyway to cut and make roads wider in Bangalore? (that extra width is anyway taken up by parked cars!) How many flyovers will they keep constructing to transfer the bottleneck a few km downstream?

A couple of things that work for me- i use my bike to get to the Metro station and back. Parking a bike is much easier around stations that don't have parking. Also found ola auto reasonably reliable over the past couple of years. Miles better than our regular auto guys.

[alexgv]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Yes, it appears so, if one wants to join ORR at Hebbal in either direction - left towards KR Puram or right towards BEL/Tumkur Rd. No way to get off the main carriageway to ORR if one stays on expressway until Esteem Mall as earlier.

Fun fact: there's Metro work at that interchange spot (I use it regularly), and it'll get significantly narrower as work progresses. If it now has to act as the defacto expressway-service road interchange for city-bound traffic, welcome to another circle of hell.

I came back 11:30 PM from airport, could use the left turn at Hebbal to get to Hennur. Do they remove the blockade at night? Any idea what are the timings when they block the right at Hebbal to KR Puram ? Or have they scrapped this idea all together?

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by alexgv

I came back 11:30 PM from airport, could use the left turn at Hebbal to get to Hennur. Do they remove the blockade at night? Any idea what are the timings when they block the right at Hebbal to KR Puram ? Or have they scrapped this idea all together?

From the main carriageway, one can take all three options: straight onto flyover, flyover slip road to signal underneath, and the far left towards KR Puram.

Only service road traffic is restricted from merging onto main carriageway, which they've done by barricading the merging point in front of Esteem Mall and moving the lane separators upto the point where the flyover slip road begins.

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by vandemanw

https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/cit...s-1130072.html

Found this article today. Is it really true that the traffic situation at the city’s worst junction is a bit better?

I found Gorguntepalya (ringroad->yeshwanthpur) to have significantly shorter wait times ~5pm in the evening. Not sure if it was due to "optimization" or just sheer luck.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

From the main carriageway, one can take all three options: straight onto flyover, flyover slip road to signal underneath, and the far left towards KR Puram.

Hey Chetan, is this info correct or only because it was 2330?

As far as the original plan implemented in early July, main carriageway (flyover) folks were compulsorily directed to the city bound (Mekhri Circle) lanes. If anyone wanted to go towards Tumkur or KR Puram, they would have to compulsorily take the service road near Allasandra (Old Vidyashilp campus).

[anandhsub]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Hey Chetan, is this info correct or only because it was 2330?

As far as the original plan implemented in early July, main carriageway (flyover) folks were compulsorily directed to the city bound (Mekhri Circle) lanes. If anyone wanted to go towards Tumkur or KR Puram, they would have to compulsorily take the service road near Allasandra (Old Vidyashilp campus).

I also came back from airport post 23:30 but what Chetan said is correct. You can take left towards KR Puram just before the hebbal flyover from the main carriageway. Only thing that is blocked is vehicles on the service lane also have to compulsorily take left and cannot take the flyover towards Mekhri Circle.

The barriers that were kept seemed to be permanent and not something you can remove everyday at night.