[AbelAFC]

I think the cabbies are enraged on seeing an L-board on a car ahead of them. I've had cabbies nearly run into me and honk at me, flash lights, etc as if they were Kamui Kobayashi lately. This never happened when the cars were L-free. Even if there's a damn car carrier ahead of me, and I can't go anywhere, these idiots refuse to shut up.
The pleasure that I've had at times not letting them go is immense. Its also sad when IT employees abuse a slower car. Education obviously doesn't instill any decency in people.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

So it hardly matters if a cabbie breaks rules, misbehaves, etc. Getting a new job at a new cab company is easier than getting a job for us, IT employees.

Exactly, I had once complained to my office transport wing that the cab drivers are transporting employees as if they were Pizza. "30 minutes delivery else free type". Transport department showed a sorry face saying the drivers keeps changing between different clients of same travel agents. So it is like you report a moron they replace with another moron.

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

IIRC, these potholes are there ever since the underpass was built. Seems, the depth has magnified with the rains.

Tell me about it. I stay near to this and my appartment doors shake when those 18 wheelers doing high speed in middle of night pass over these. Hope they repair it when they fix the service road

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

The problem lies with the temporary stone blocks placed to make up for the divider.

It is a sorry sight to watch the traffic warden arrange the blocks in morning and half hour later some moron will push it away and cause this bottle neck. It start with a two wheeler rider moving one or two blocks. However I feel apart from making this divder a proper one they should finish the work on service road on Prestige side since that road is a mess (The one near IOC bunk). I remember this underpass was opened around last October, not sure what takes them this long to repair a 100 mts service road. And on top of that the service road on opposite side is already dug up.

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

However I feel apart from making this divder a proper one they should finish the work on service road on Prestige side since that road is a mess (The one near IOC bunk). I remember this underpass was opened around last October, not sure what takes them this long to repair a 100 mts service road. And on top of that the service road on opposite side is already dug up.

Exactly. Fixing of roads is important to streamline traffic.

No motorist would like to go through those broken roads. So an easier approach is to take the shortcut and reach the better road quicker.
I believe that if the service roads are fixed and cleaned up, many would not bother to take the pain of removing those blocks and risking their lives. They can zoom and reach at a legal u-turn quickly without damaging their vehicles or bones.

[rohanjf]

If you discuss with cabbies, their version is different.

My wife goes by office cab daily, from Sompura (near Sarjapur) to Bellandur. It is about 15 KM journey and would take about 30 minutes. Since the railway flyover construction has begun near Decathlon on Sarjapur road, the distance has increased to 20 KMs and the time to 50 minutes (thanks to the long detour, where the road is pathetic and traffic is heavy). At times, the traffic jams cause even more delays.

The cab driver says that the transport department of the company does not care about the traffic situation. If the cab does not reach office by 9 AM, the driver gets a lecture. If the problem continues, the driver will not get full payment.

The cabs have to reach on time, because the employees have to record the mandatory 9 hours of time in office, before the cabs leave office in the evening. Now, what is the root cause of the problem?

[mpksuhas]

^^ It is a circle. If the cab driver has to reach on time may be they have to schedule the trip earlier so as to have a buffer. But then it may not be difficult for employees. A late cab means less man hours for the company. Hence it is the hapless cab driver who is in soup.
Well, out of all this there was a news on last weekend that Metro phase 3 may include Yeswantpur - Banasankari route which passes through ORR. It may be years from completion, however hope a proper metro system will bring down the madness on road.

OT: rohan, liked your signature.

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

If you discuss with cabbies, their version is different.

Abolutely true Rohan. I used to travel by office cab till 1 year back and have seen the various attitudes of various drivers. Some drive decently and reach on time. Some bully, quarrel, foul mouth with others, and reach at the same time as others.

The funda of providing office cabs is to provide convenient travel options for employees working during odd hours of the day / night, when public transport or regular office transport is unavailable.
Right now, it is highly abused and every other company is rolling out their fleet of cabs. Even in my company, although there are buses for employees to travel, still employees working in projects with cab facilities, book cabs for pickup and drops. It is more comfortable and faster than buses, is what they say.
Why can't the management refuse to provide cabs during 9am in the morning. C'mon there are hundreds of BMTC buses (AC + NonAC) + hundreds of my company buses plying on the same route at that time. Why can't they be utilised ?

Now what happens, in that peak 9am traffic we have one more cab trying to reach office on time with an employee who could very well be accommodated in the company bus.

For smaller companies with lesser employee strength, a mini-bus could be better than 5 Indicabs, isn't it ?

Its all a Khichdi of bad company transport management, bad working hours, pathetic road conditions and to a major extent - the boosting economy which has made it possible for every tom dick and harry to own a 2 and 4 wheeler.
Right now, my milkman comes on a Pulsar, I won't be surprised if he starts coming in a Tata Ace and then a Tempo Traveller after a few days.

[500ContyCruiser]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Right now, my milkman comes on a Pulsar, I won't be surprised if he starts coming in a Tata Ace and then a Tempo Traveller after a few days.

On lighter note, you never know, he would be having Audi or BMW in his garage

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Its all a Khichdi of bad company transport management, bad working hours, pathetic road conditions and to a major extent

Exactly! Some times, it makes me wonder, where are we heading with all this mess. What is going to happen in coming days / years. Hope we do not land in "Point of no-return" situation

[Shiv_1984]

Well, Today morning i had that Auto Rant near my office in Electronic City.

Around 9:50 AM I took a turn from Hosur Road signal towards EC and after cruising slowly for 5 mins came across C-DOT office. There was an overloaded Auto walla driving his Tin box on the centre of the road not allowing any one to pass from either sides.

I honked twice, thrice but he remain unperturbed. I fumed and honked continuously. He didn't budge, then somehow I found some space and tried to overtake from right. The nut then went crazy and dashed on my left fender.

Fortunately, no paint came out and my car escaped with minor scratches. But then what started is we all hate. 2-3 auto walas came together and started supporting him even though it was completely his mistake, but who cares. My weak point is I don't understand Kannada. This mayhem continues for a good 30 mins and they demanded money for the invisible damages on his auto which I denied upfront. I was ready to go to Police station but then I had an important client call at 10:30 which I couldn't miss.

By this time a local traffic guy came and asked them in Kannada what happened. Worst part is he didn't even pay a heed to my story. After listening to them, he asked me to give them 400 and close the matter else come to police station.

I said I wont give 400 for a mistake I didn't commit. While they started getting arrogant, the SI came and asked me in Eng what's the matter. God Bless him for knowing English. I told him the whole story, and while i was narrating him the incident, the auto guys started claiming that I am drunk and was over speeding. The SI told them to shut up and not speak nonsense. God bless him again. He also said, this is a junction and no way one can over speed here. I requested him to close the matter here. He said, since there are some damages to the auto, pay some money to the guy and get off. I had no other way but to pay him 200 bucks and settle the matter. The auto guy couldn't do anything and i was fortunate that the SI came to my rescue which I again feel is a rare thing.

I know this happens to many of us many times but the mentality to extract money from an outsider is what pisses me off. He will put a sticker on his auto and it won't even bother him again but the scratches I got, what about them? I would have to shell thousands to fix them.

My day started with a bad note. Pls for god sake be careful and be away from these local road side maniacs.

[sam_boy]

Sad to hear what you had to go through Shiv but it has happened to many of us. It does not matter how much we love this city but there would be elements always to remind us that not every one welcome us here

To be on the safer side try to stay away from this illiterate idiots and more importantly when you are in a hurry never fiddle with bad people on the road.

Originally Posted by Shiv_1984

Well, Today morning i had that Auto Rant near my office in Electronic City.

[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Seriously on any other given day, I would have probably got down from the car and got into an argument. But today I was feeling low (dropped my wife and newborn at home-town last week). So I was driving slowly, super sedately, looking around people and the jams. I was in no mood of any argument. Just kept smiling at him.
The only moment I felt worried, was while I was crossing him - What if he bangs my car intentionally and I fall into the drain. :-(

But, to be short, I was in a Forgiving mood today.

Even forgave two fellow employees who were bullying their way into the office elevators. I let them go and took the next elevator.

Originally Posted by djay99

I travel from JP Nagar to Whitefield everyday and i see these TT & cabbies driving as if their bu** is on fire.
But these guys only shout and scream. They do not have courage to bang. Even i faced such situations and never allowed them to win.
Best choice is to stay calm and let their BP increase .

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Yes, I don't know why the employees in the cabs do not speak up when their driver drives irrationally. Last night, I didn't take the BETL when going towards Silkboard and I see this cab driver driving a Sumo, full of employees and not giving a hoot to the signals. He would weave in and out of other traffic and finally inspite of driving like that, I finally caught up with him at Silkboard. Thought of giving a few words of advise to the driver or to the employee sitting next to him but thought better of it. God knows what could have happened. People kill these days on road. Road rage!

These tempo-traveller drivers are the ultimate traffic-terrorists in Bangalore. It has something to do with the vehicle also. I feel the tempo traveller is more maneuverable than the other vans and that makes these drivers crazier. You wouldn't find such behaviour from the Indicas, Winger drivers though I am sure these drivers are also from the same breed.

I have complained against our company cab drivers when they broke traffic rules ( jumping signals ). That is easier and easy for them to understand. But common sense like disciplined lane driving, or no-honking etc is more difficult to explain to them. They are not exactly breaking rules here.

Secondly, probably their is a psychological reason for this. For most company cab drivers this is their "hour of glory" for the day. Rash driving may give them a temporary sense of power of car owners, who obviously are earning more than them. And the drivers can never reach that status. Once during a trip, when I asked the driver not to honk at a signal, he was muttering long about "white-board" drivers and software engineers and what not.

And a L-board with a lady driver is like a red rag to these raging bulls.

[carfreak77]

I am visiting Bangalore for a few days and I finally understand what people mean when they say Bangalore traffic is insane!! I've been here for two days and the way people drive here is shocking. People just swerve anywhere they please and come so close to your car. The motorbikes are one of the worst in squeezing. Definitely much worse than Mumbai. Overall, all drivers are much more aggressive here. And the traffic is just too much. Every road I go on is jammed with traffic. I used to complain about Mumbai traffic but I guess I should stop complaining !
The traffic situation is made worse due to the very bad and deep potholes on most of the roads. Many of the pot holes are so deep that I'm sure quite a few sedans and hatches must be getting hit from underneath.

[nareshov]

Damage in a slow moving traffic when an auto bumped into me at KH circle when I was taking a left turn from KH road to Hosur road. It all happened too quick in spite of it being slow traffic and I might've been distracted* than usual.

Didn't bother arguing, left the scene without getting angry and hoping that it shouldn't be too expensive to mend.

Left the car with KHT service center today for fixing this up.

* I rarely drive with passengers within the city.

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by carfreak77

I am visiting Bangalore for a few days and I finally understand what people mean when they say Bangalore traffic is insane!

Haaahaaahaa... Welcome to B'lore.
All I can say is "Hope you have a pleasant stay in B'lore's weather".
For commutation, hope you reach your destinations on time and in one piece.

Originally Posted by nareshov

Damage in a slow moving traffic when an auto bumped into me at KH circle when I was taking a left turn from KH road to Hosur road.

Ouch, that damage looks minor, but nevertheless, it hurts when your car is hurt. You could have taken it to a FNG instead of Tata A.S.S. Could have costed you less.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

No motorist would like to go through those broken roads. So an easier approach is to take the shortcut and reach the better road quicker.
I believe that if the service roads are fixed and cleaned up, many would not bother to take the pain of removing those blocks and risking their lives. They can zoom and reach at a legal u-turn quickly without damaging their vehicles or bones.

But you know what, I've seen people break the rules because they want to, not because it's more convenient. They don't bother with legal u-turns, they just make their own u-turn *good road or no road*. Heck, they just go the wrong way and that's even worse!

[babu.sundaram]

Today afternoon, I was coming in Dispensary road, tailing a BMTC. (BTW, tailing a BMTC is a good idea as they clear up traffic wonderfully for you !). A rest less auto was following me with incessant honk. I was in no mood to shift left (on to a bad patch) and just continued following BMTC. As I approached the commercial road junction, I saw the BMTC jumping the signal and stopped at the signal. The restless auto jumped on to a bad patch on left, passed me shouting something with a cold stare. Again, I was in no mood to chase him jumping the signal or to shout back. Few seconds later, signal cleared and I turned left.. bingo! There were few traffic cops and our automan standing with a sorry figure. Whoa! I couldn't help that vicious smile!