[paragsachania]

Time - 12:00PM
Place - Kodigehalli Junction on Bellary Road (New Airport Road)
What Happened?

As usual, I was driving to work starting from Vidyaranyapura via Kodigehalli Main road and was approaching the Kodigehalli Road-Bellary Road Intersection. The Traffic lights were all green and my usual intention was to take right towards the Hebbal Flyover. The lights remained green for a good duration and traffic was sparse after a few seconds creating a vacuum between the last vehicle that crossed the signal ahead of me and 2-3 cars including mine which were tailing them.

The lights are still green as I just approach the intersection but somehow I could sense a Green BMTC Big10 bus slowly moving ahead (See illustration pic) thinking he can either slow/block the traffic from my side even when we had the right to proceed.



A M-800 ahead of me barely misses the Bus and passes 'successfully' and now its my turn. What follows next was definitely not a heroic deed that I want to present here but an attempt that would not allow the BMTC Bus to take us all (can I say that?) for granted on an everyday basis.

Lights still green for me, I don't show any signs of slowing down and neither does that Bus. I honk, Flash my lights but to no avail. Finally, I had to swerve a little left to avoid a collision but I had made up my mind that I will not resent to that BMTC bus' attempt to jump a signal even if I had to take left and take a U-Turn towards my intended direction of travel.

I stopped my car exactly the way you can see in the picture above. I get down, remove my ID card to ensure that I am not just another IT guy, lock my car (what if my laptop gets stolen in the melee) and I start questioning the driver on his dangerous attempt to jump the signal knowing the fact that the light was still Red for him and green for all of us. All this in a typical, Pure Kannada without any accent, just to make sure that I suddenly don't get overpowered by others as an "outsider".

Now this was the third time from my previous altercations with BMTC bus drivers where the driver doesn't bother to speak/argue and simply waves me to get lost while the conductor gets down and comes to me. I spot 2 cops and wave them to come to the spot to take toll of the situation.

Meantime, I have support and this is really significant and worth mentioning. A Dzire Cabbie from a Hotel who was following behind me and 2 other 2-wheeler riders who park their bikes blocking the Bus and start to blast the Bus driver in all possible ways.

Police arrives, again blasts the Driver in Kannada:

"Nimige thale mele koorisirodikkene intha kelsa maadtheera, naachke aagalva?"

Translated:"Because of allowing you folks to sit on our head you continue indulging in such things (jump signals), aren't you ashamed?"

Then the Dzire Cabbie, the 2 wheeler riders started passing all possible remarks to the hopeless bus driver. Another person, I don't even know if he belonged to any other vehicle, climbs the bus on the driver's side and almost acts as if he wants to punch that driver. (He did this twice but never assaulted him and probably was just showing frustration/ire)

I now ask the cops to take action as the Bus had jumped a signal. The cops had no choice but to heed to the demand at that juncture and challaned the Bus for 400 INR though I didn't notice if he ever handed over the receipt to the Driver of the bus, I assume they would send it to the BMTC office directly.

We were then asked by the cops to move as we had created jam (I'm sorry). I move my car to make way for the bus to continue, traffic clears, I wait for my turn to take right when the light turns green and I move on.

This is not the first time but I had strongly reacted under similar situations earlier with 2 BMTC buses (Volvo then) and hence this isn't a new experience in my everyday commute from Electronics City to Vidyaranyapura (34kms).

The only significant highlight of this entire episode is that the cops were indeed helping this time and so were the other victims who supported my act and in the end the driver of a BMTC Bus was also fined for this act.

[MX6]

Brave on your part. I'd not have moved ahead in the way of the bus fearing getting crushed. Especially, because 2 months back a moron bus driver did exactly the same, jumping signals and hitting a truck who inturn swerved and hit me.
Had it been Chennai, the bus drivers would have gone on a strike holding chennai for ransom. Remember Mudhalvan?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by MX6

Brave on your part. I'd not have moved ahead in the way of the bus fearing getting crushed. Especially, because 2 months back a moron bus driver did exactly the same, jumping signals and hitting a truck who inturn swerved and hit me.
Had it been Chennai, the bus drivers would have gone on a strike holding chennai for ransom. Remember Mudhalvan?

MX6, in my case the bus wasn't moving at high speed. It was waiting for its turn to proceed like all the others along with it in its direction and was the first one in the row. The Bus driver was simply risking by moving foot by foot by releasing the clutch abruptly (this is how they try to scare cars and bikes you know). Though he could see that there were a good number of cars and bikes to cross him any moment, I still wonder what he was thinking when he was trying this stunt.

Hence, in my case, it was a careful maneuver since I was probably doing 25-30kmph and the Bus was doing about 3-5kmph good enough to brake even if I went ahead and stopped right in front of him.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Time - 12:00PM
Place - Kodigehalli Junction on Bellary Road (New Airport Road)
What Happened?

As usual...


...were the other victims who supported my act and in the end the driver of a BMTC Bus was also fined for this act.

That is a brave and commendable move by you, Sir! I applaud with gusto!

There should be more people like you on our streets, who would be ready to stand up to these morons, instead of letting them run all over us, by doing such unethical and legally-questionable things, on the roads. It's also great to see that you got good support. A rare thing to see in a city like Bangalore. Even one individual more, can make a difference.

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

This is not the first time but I had strongly reacted under similar situations earlier with 2 BMTC buses (Volvo then) and hence this isn't a new experience in my everyday commute from Electronics City to Vidyaranyapura (34kms).

The only significant highlight of this entire episode is that the cops were indeed helping this time and so were the other victims who supported my act and in the end the driver of a BMTC Bus was also fined for this act.

Firstly, wonderful effort. Kudos to you Parag.

Secondly, as part of ORRCA we work very closely with traffic cops. they feel very helpless with BMTC drivers who routinely violate the rules and are utter callous. They ticket them but still they just don"t care. We have also highlighted these behaviours to BMTC management and hopefully they will take some action.

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by Fauji

Firstly, wonderful effort. Kudos to you Parag.

Secondly, as part of ORRCA we work very closely with traffic cops. they feel very helpless with BMTC drivers who routinely violate the rules and are utter callous. They ticket them but still they just don"t care. We have also highlighted these behaviours to BMTC management and hopefully they will take some action.

i don't think these BMTC drivers care a hoot about the cops. i've seen them yell, scream and abuse the traffic cops and the latter just stand there taking it all in. they've this feeling that nobody can touch them.

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

New nightmare stretch to avoid - ORR stretch from Cessna business park to PTP marathahalli.

Originally Posted by blackstallion76

Very true. It was horrible traffic and folks had closed the service road after Ecospace to reach Bellandur flyover. .

Originally Posted by benbsb29

The ORR from Marathalli to HSR is the worst place to travel on these days, in either direction.

OK, folks.

I am part of ORRCA and we are closely working with all agencies - BWSSB, BDA, GAIL, Traffic police - to make sure that the traffic moves on this stretch. It has been a tough experince to deal with these agencies. However, all the agencies are cooperating.

We had a high level meeting with Mr. Sureah Kumar, the minister for BWSSB and bangalore and had a walk through with him ten days back to assess the ground level situation. He is personally overseeing the progress of all these projects. There are various challnges which i can not deliberate in detail these columns. However this is the latest update i have as per the commitement given by agencies to the minister.

a) One ramp each at Intel junction and Bellandur to be operational by first week of January

b) Kadubeesnahalli under pass to be operational by end of October.

In the meantime, we are pursuing BDA to asphalt the service road and the main road and fill up all the pot holes at Bellandur. They did it in Kaadubeesanahalli junction and hopefully should do it in Bellandur this weekend. Rain has also added misery to the condition of these roads.

We in ORRCA will continue to push these agencies and see that the traffic will move on this stretch smoothly.

[Fauji]

Adding a news item from today's Deccan Herald on the projects happenning on ORR.

Though BDA is promising that one of the ramps of the flyovers at Intel Junction and Bellandur will be operational by end of Oct, to be realistic, we may see that happening only by end Nov/mid Dec. However, the underpass in front of our campus may be operational by end Oct.

]BDA puts a spoke in BWSSB wheel

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by Fauji

In the meantime, we are pursuing BDA to asphalt the service road and the main road and fill up all the pot holes at Bellandur. They did it in Kaadubeesanahalli junction and hopefully should do it in Bellandur this weekend. Rain has also added misery to the condition of these roads.

Fauji, thanks a lot for the update, and wishing you the best in your efforts. We appreciate your efforts in this regard.

I noticed the asphalting which was done at the junction near Carnation/Cisco, which has greatly helped traffic flow. However, IMHO this was common sense and i wonder why it took the civic authorities this long to figure this out!

Also, despite the asphalting which was carried out, it has started to erode already, when i was passing through that stretch yesterday.

[KarthikK]

I wonder why every flyover construction was started at the same time, when they knew it would lead to chaos throughout the ORR stretch

Simplex infrastructure (in charge of these projects) should consider renaming themselves to 'Complex infrastructure'

Originally Posted by Fauji

OK, folks.

I am part of ORRCA and we are closely working with all agencies - BWSSB, BDA, GAIL, Traffic police - to make sure that the traffic moves on this stretch. It has been a tough experince to deal with these agencies. However, all the agencies are cooperating.

We had a high level meeting with Mr. Sureah Kumar, the minister for BWSSB and bangalore and had a walk through with him ten days back to assess the ground level situation. He is personally overseeing the progress of all these projects. There are various challnges which i can not deliberate in detail these columns. However this is the latest update i have as per the commitement given by agencies to the minister.

a) One ramp each at Intel junction and Bellandur to be operational by first week of January

b) Kadubeesnahalli under pass to be operational by end of October.

In the meantime, we are pursuing BDA to asphalt the service road and the main road and fill up all the pot holes at Bellandur. They did it in Kaadubeesanahalli junction and hopefully should do it in Bellandur this weekend. Rain has also added misery to the condition of these roads.

We in ORRCA will continue to push these agencies and see that the traffic will move on this stretch smoothly.

Thanks a lot for the information Fauji. Do keep us updated about any changes that you are able to share with us

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Also, despite the asphalting which was carried out, it has started to erode already, when i was passing through that stretch yesterday.

+1 to this. Already there are potholes formed in the newly tarred stretch. I suspect it was because of monday night's heavy rains

There seem to be 2 monstrous potholes (noticing these from quite some time) on the Cessna to Prestige tech park stretch - one before the underpass intersection and another one after it. Today morning, a young lady on an Activa was riding behind a bus. She failed to notice this huge pothole (almost 1 foot deep), the scooter hit it at around 30kmph and she was thrown off the vehicle. Luckily she wasn't injured badly. Is there any way we can get the authorities to look at such dangerous obstacles and repair them quickly? Rest of the road can be re-tarred later after removing such craters

[praful]

Rant!

As if the big mess being caused at Bellandur was not enough, now the bottleneck moves to the ORR-Sarjapur road junction till almost Agara junction. Thanks to the road work now happening at Ibulur.

To add to this the magnificent 27th Main at HSR Layout, I am truly being reminded of my ride to Ladakh every time I commute to work. Had it not been for the packed like a can of sardines volvos and the insane amount of time they take at time I'd have rather taken the volvo than ride/drive my vehicle.

[Tempelhof]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

"Nimige thale mele koorisirodikkene intha kelsa maadtheera, naachke aagalva?"

I appreciate this work

But the worst lot in my opinion are the Volvo 335E bus drivers.

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

I noticed the asphalting which was done at the junction near Carnation/Cisco, which has greatly helped traffic flow. However, IMHO this was common sense and i wonder why it took the civic authorities this long to figure this out!

Also, despite the asphalting which was carried out, it has started to erode already, when i was passing through that stretch yesterday.

Yes Benson, even i noticed it. After rains it has weathered out as it was not properly done as proper relaying would have required digging levelling etc which may not be possible. We will continue to push BDA to keep refilling the potholes till the flyovers are complete. The delay in these works was due to delay in finalising the contractor which has taken them three months. Now that is complete, one can see some progress. The service road on Bellandur will be targeted next. Mostly on the weekend.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I wonder why every flyover construction was started at the same time, when they knew it would lead to chaos throughout the ORR stretch



+1 to this. Already there are potholes formed in the newly tarred stretch. I suspect it was because of monday night's heavy rains

There seem to be 2 monstrous potholes (noticing these from quite some time) on the Cessna to Prestige tech park stretch - one before the underpass intersection and another one after it. Today morning, a young lady on an Activa was riding behind a bus. She failed to notice this huge pothole (almost 1 foot deep), the scooter hit it at around 30kmph and she was thrown off the vehicle. Luckily she wasn't injured badly. Is there any way we can get the authorities to look at such dangerous obstacles and repair them quickly? Rest of the road can be re-tarred later after removing such craters

Thanks Karthik. I will tell the guys to fill up these potholes immediately.

Originally Posted by praful

Rant!

As if the big mess being caused at Bellandur was not enough, now the bottleneck moves to the ORR-Sarjapur road junction till almost Agara junction. Thanks to the road work now happening at Ibulur.

What work is happenning in Iblur?

There was traffic slow down yesterday evening on the stretch Iblur to Agara as BWSSB guys were laying pipes. In the morning today it was smooth from Agara to Iblur. With more people opting to go via Wipro corporate office to join back ORR, the traffic at Iblur signal has increased resulting in a wait of atleast two signals during peak time.

[praful]

Originally Posted by Fauji

What work is happenning in Iblur?

There was traffic slow down yesterday evening on the stretch Iblur to Agara as BWSSB guys were laying pipes. In the morning today it was smooth from Agara to Iblur. With more people opting to go via Wipro corporate office to join back ORR, the traffic at Iblur signal has increased resulting in a wait of atleast two signals during peak time.

The service road side is dug up on the Sarjapur-Agara direction, and its leading to a slow moving traffic especially under the ORR-Sarjapur road junction.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by praful

The service road side is dug up on the Sarjapur-Agara direction, and its leading to a slow moving traffic especially under the ORR-Sarjapur road junction.

It was so simple. All they had to do was tar the merging onto ORR from service lane. If the merging was smooth there would be no traffic.

Instead they put some mud on the median and want cars to climb over the median and get on the ORR. The mud has been washed out almost and the only way is to make an almost 90 degree turn onto ORR. This causes a pile up till Sarjapur Mantri signal.