[abaliga]

Bangalore has its work cut out, Administration needs to allow companies to offer remote working options, both WFO and WFH has its pros and cons, but for a city like Bangalore every job that can be performed remotely should be allowed to do so, this will have an impact on the economy in the short term where real estate will take a hit and support jobs will dry up, but when IT folks move to smaller towns/cities, the economy of these towns/ tier 2/3 cities will pick up, it's a bitter pill that no administration is ready to swallow but will have to be done sooner rather than later!

[Tuisha110HP]

And to my Shock, my billion-dollar company which was earning billions during WFH days, has mandated 3 days a week compulsory office in the name of employee experience.

What an irony!

[vamsi.vadrevu]

Reading all these comments, one thing becomes certain. The people will reach a saturation point and simply immigrate away from Bangalore. Many IT folks i know, actually refuse offers from organizations that are based out of Bangalore and don't offer work from home. It's practically not possible to rent out a place and still have a decent quality of life with the infrastructure. The politicians will be reaping the benefits of their greed. When there are no companies that want to operate from Bangalore, then they'll realise their mistake.

[Gotcha]

Just in time, to make matters worse everywhere:

"TCS ends hybrid working policy, asks employees to join office starting October 1"

https://www.cnbctv18.com/education/t...1-17914331.htm

[Highh5]

I bid farewell to Bangalore in June 2021. Recently while trying to switch to another better opportunity, whichever companies were asking me to relocate to Bangalore no matter how good the chance was I just said NO to them. This traffic situation will not be solved overnight, it will need serious decisive measures some short-term and some long-term measures. Don't take me wrong I have spent a reasonable amount of time in Bangalore and love the city for everything it offers except the traffic. I wish someone from the private sector come forward and try to sort out this mess with the help of the government.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by am1m

I could be wrong, but I think yesterday's extra-large jam was a consequence of the hybrid model? I assume a lot of people decided to complete one of the mandated 'in-office' days yesterday (Wednesday) because today is a holiday, tomorrow is a Karnataka bandh (Friday), and Monday is another holiday.

That seems to be the cause. As per police:

Double volume of vehicles: Traffic on September 27 was twice the normal volume. Normally, Wednesdays see a vehicle count of 1.5-2 lakh, but it reached 3.59 lakh by 7:30pm on September 27. This surge was a result of the Bengaluru bandh that took place on September 26, as many employees reported to their offices and exited around the same time on September 27.

Since it has been raining for the past few days, folks decided to get their cars and it added to the woes. Other causes 5 vehicle breakdowns, potholed roads, and water clogging.

Link: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bu...-11440951.html

[AltoLXI]

No, not about Bangalore.

New York could possibly see 8 inches of rain today and some of the visuals look like Bangalore streets.

Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqDRSub5h5o

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by Highh5

I wish someone from the private sector come forward and try to sort out this mess with the help of the government.

Privatization is no magic bullet for the scale of the problem at hand. Landuse planning, zoning, environmental protection, and transport planning are parts of Urban planning. We need droves of people to take up these fields of study, and allow these experts to act in the best interests of the people.

The best private entities can do is self contained developments. Office tower, residential tower, a school, hospital, shopping and entertainment, right next to a Metro station. Anything more than this, involves too many citizens to be impacted, and can only be done (in terms of planning) on a war footing by the government. The citizens need to place this issue, as the top one for every election, and admonish them if they try to scare us with other distractions.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

With the free women's pass on buses in Bangalore, I now see all buses packed at least with 75% women. These comprise of women from almost all economic means. Fantastic. I have recently begun taking buses myself and avoid cabs/autos as long as I don't have to do connections. No am not taking the bus because there are more women on it lol!

For a city the size of Bengaluru with 12 million people, BMTC has ~6800 busses. There is so much talk of huge projects (tunnels, flyovers, etc) that have big payouts for powerful people. Simpler solutions do not get traction. Imagine having 4 times the number of busses, 4 times more metro cars - some 28k busses connecting all metro stations. More employment, smoother movement of people. If implemented gradually, we can take a lot of people off the roads. Imagine the savings in terms of time value of money - collectively for everyone. There would be obvious savings in terms of pollution and fuel expenses. The whole thing can be made free/heavily subsidized. It's alright to get something back for all the taxes we pay.

[shresan23]

Originally Posted by FURY_44

Makes sense doesn't it?

Attachment 2509160

I dont know about the regional preferences or the social view of the bangaloreans with regards to this issue, but i think that the government is taking a regressive and in fact, a nonsense approach.

Why do you have to beat down on people willing to save some money on transport, if the infrastructure cannot support cheap travel?

Get this, the ones who stood in that massive jam obviously incurred a whole lot more than their usual quota, in terms of fuel and this is not a one off.

Bangalore's notorious traffic is something that is sung all over India. Once, during a complete weekday, it took me 45 minutes to cover 1 km. Now, this is probably nothing for fellow B'loreans but considering the fact that mileage dropped like water and the fact that i can easily cover 10 to 12 km within the city in Chennai during peak traffic hours, through metro routes, it seems nightmarish, in B'lore

Onto the main point here. Of course, there may be some restrictions on people using it for commercial purposes, like functioning as a faux taxi, by picking people up from random places etc.

But carpooling in essence, is using one car when the destination is ~same.

I dont know if those carpooling apps are working like Ola or Uber under a different badge.

If they arent and are genuinely carpooling apps, bringing down heat on these apps and the users, is kind of a shitty move.

Come on, there is the pollution factor, fuel consumption and everything. Ola and Uber by themselves are hiked to a point where the prices dont make sense anymore.

I think such apps, if they are genuinely what they advertise to be, should be encouraged

[ShreyG]

Originally Posted by shresan23

I think such apps, if they are genuinely what they advertise to be, should be encouraged

Just to add on to the point, I have been a frequent user of one such app as a ride provider. The remunerations provided are calculated such that profiteering is near impossible with them, no matter the number of people pooling in and the distance travelled. There are upper limits on the amount and increase in distance proportionately increases the discount %.
This is essentially another knee jerk owing to the pressure from the taxi / auto cab unions. The transport department could also have been sensible and made such apps legal to only those with an official email ID to filter out the weeds in the farm for the benefit of the city. But sensibility and rationale are the least of the concerns when votebank comes into play.

[shresan23]

Originally Posted by ShreyG

Just to add on to the point, I have been a frequent user of one such app as a ride provider. The remunerations provided are calculated such that profiteering is near impossible with them, no matter the number of people pooling in and the distance travelled.

Exactly.

Lets be honest, people who dont do this for a living, are not looking to make a quick buck out of this. They are merely doing this to reduce running costs. Besides, you are just helping each other out.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by TheRandomGuy

The problem is within us too. You could very very easily just walk to your office at a distance of 1-2kms. But looks like you used a vehicle, I am praying it was not a 4W.

There were thousands of cars with just a single occupant.

Do you seriously think that the city, especially the ORR stretch is pedestrian-friendly? There are no proper footpaths to begin with. The ones that do exist are broken, occupied by vendors, blocked by Skywalk and its generator , OFC cables, construction debris, and whatnot. Then there are trees, most of which are not tall, and any adult above 5' has to crouch to walk past. On top of it, there are the educated two-wheeler morons who ride on the footpaths and shamelessly abuse the pedestrians.

[nova.19_exe]

Left my house in Brookefield to go to a restaurant in ORR. We left home around 2:15PM, reached Marathahalli Bridge around 15-ish mins later. Fine, no problem. But the bridge was packed, so we went under the bridge to go through another route but hey presto! Road is closed so I had to come back all the way to square one, then go through Jeevika Hospital and then touched ORR!! We entered ORR at 3:00PM!

This is getting outrageous! Half of ORR has been made single lane because of "Namma Metro" which seems to be at the same position for the past 2 years I've been going on that route! And the people on that road, oh my god, they drive like it's their "baap ka road." They drive between lanes and the most frustrating part, they won't budge at all! No matter how much you flash your lights or honk at them, they won't move! If you somehow manage to cross them and try to tell them that it's wrong, they'll start swearing at you or they'll start a fight!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by nova.19_exe

Left my house in Brookefield to go to a restaurant in ORR. We left home around 2:15PM, reached Marathahalli Bridge around 15-ish mins later. Fine, no problem. But the bridge was packed, so we went under the bridge to go through another route but hey presto! Road is closed so I had to come back all the way to square one, then go through Jeevika Hospital and then touched ORR!! We entered ORR at 3:00PM!

Most important Bangalore life lesson learnt: No ORR for a weekend to a restaurant! I would avoid it even on a week day if possible! But sadly we all have to work!

[nova.19_exe]

Originally Posted by ampere

Most important Bangalore life lesson learnt: No ORR for a weekend to a restaurant! I would avoid it even on a week day if possible! But sadly we all have to work!

In the weekdays, it's work traffic! In the weekends, it's family traffic!!

Plus, I live in an area (Brookefield) where if I have to get somewhere on this side, it's KR Puram. If it's on the other side, then Marathahalli. It's like we're sandwiched it between with no avail! You have to struggle if you have to be somewhere!