[kiran_cr]

Pretty long traffic jam on ORR. I could see vehicles piled up from bellandur flyover till after kadubeesanahalli underpass on the silkboard to marathahalli stretch.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

Today I realised how even the so-called latest technology may not be of any immediate help in case of an emergency. I have an Airtel postpaid connection, with prompt service especially when it comes to sending out the monthly bills.

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

We had the same problem while calling 100 few years ago. The solution was to add the STD code.

If you're calling for 108 in Bangalore, dial 080108 and the call will go through.

I have tried 108(without STD code) some time back and the call went through successfully. And mine is a airtel postpaid connection.

[itwasntme]

While working towards Mobile Number Portability (MNP), most operators have quietly done away with the adding '0' or '+91' requirement for domestic (i.e. pan-India) mobile to mobile calls:

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/telecom/news...-prefix-693982

However, for those who travel abroad a lot, its always better to make it a practice and store ALL numbers as +91xxx

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by kiran_cr

Pretty long traffic jam on ORR. I could see vehicles piled up from bellandur flyover till after kadubeesanahalli underpass on the silkboard to marathahalli stretch.

I saw a similar jam on this stretch yesterday at exactly the same time. Starting from close to Marathahalli and had reached beyond Kadubeesanahalli underpass and was continuing to build when I passed in the opposite direction.

Wonder if there is something happening at 12 PM that is causing this or if it was just a coincidence.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

It might be operator specific, I have a BSNL mobile and have to add STD codes for any of these short dialing numbers.

Short dial codes work just fine without any STD codes on Airtel. I've called railway inquiry (139?) and other such numbers multiple times. The experience is usually hit & miss.

Sometimes Airtel refuses to connect even legitimate 10-digit cellphone numbers. I was in Pune a couple days last week and my wife constantly kept getting "Number not valid" while calling me. No, it wasn't about not prefixing '0' or '+91' for an outstation call. If you get (un)lucky someday, you can hear their whole selection of "your call won't connect because we can't be bothered to" messages, if you try enough times.

[ujjjwalb]

I was interning in a company in jigani. So I had to travel daily from brookefield to jigani via the electronic city flyover. There are a couple of things I noticed.
1. roads themselves contribute heavily to a traffic jam. At many places, roads have been dug up and then not repaired properly. This makes that lane of the road useless. The traffic tends to converge and with the drivers having the me first attitude, it just becomes horrible.
2. On outer ring road, lanes have been carved out for buses to stop. I barely saw any bus use that lane to stop. They stop right in the middle of the lane and the indicabs and tempo travelers behind the bus would immediately want to change lanes and this leads to congestion.
3. After getting down from the electronic city flyover, when you're coming towards the city, changing lanes to get to the silk board signal was the biggest nightmare. Buses and some well educated drivers just wait till the Las moment to change lanes and get into the queue. This was the most frustrating moment for me. I made sure that I don't give way to such idiots who think that their time is way more valuable than anyone else's. Because of such idiots, not only does the traffic towards silk board slow down but also one entire lane of the flyover that leads to koramangala gets blocked. If only drivers had a bit more discipline!
4. I also noticed that many cab drivers want to shove their car inside that little gap they see, but once the traffic starts moving at normal speed, they actually go slower.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by ujjjwalb

...
If only drivers had a bit more discipline!
4. I also noticed that many cab drivers want to shove their car inside that little gap they see, but once the traffic starts moving at normal speed, they actually go slower.

We can only wish and hope that drivers will be more disciplined (which in my opinion is the #1 reason for problems on our roads)

Cabs - lesser said about them, the better! They firmly believe in "Slow and steady wins the race" , though the 'race' is really only in their minds.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by NPV

We can only wish and hope that drivers will be more disciplined (which in my opinion is the #1 reason for problems on our roads)

Stricter law enforcement can be a short term solution, but the long term solution of having disciplined drivers require a time change of 10-15 years. And that too by putting in consistent efforts to educate today's kids on defensive driving, good driving skills etc. hoping that when they get their DLs they would be a more civilised lot.

The current crop of drivers (including me), may have got their cars first time in their families. Those families never had a car before, and never were there senior drivers who could have guided them. These are the drivers who really have not seen how rest of the developed world drives etc. Today we find every one can afford a (small) car with some financial planning. So at least in cities we find a large number of people who have cars, but have not got any rigorous training or experience in driving in a better fashion.

[etrast75]

Originally Posted by ujjjwalb

If only drivers had a bit more discipline!

Proper disciplined driving is something that needs to be taught at very young age and enforced properly. We are neither taught proper driving techniques ( ability to move a car by releasing the clutch and stopping it by pressing the brake does not make you a driver). Enforcement is lax and corrupt as we all know. Road design leaves a lot to be desired (suddenly narrowing roads, no proper merge lanes, no proper lanes for stopping buses etc etc.. I can go on for ever and probably write a dissertation)..
I wish I had the power to conduct an experiment to show the whole of india that standing in a single line when turning left or right at an intersection actually makes it easier for you and also others.

This is how a typical driver's mind works (educated, uneducated does not matter)

• Driving along merrily.
• Sees a block ahead.. Not sure why
• Have to turn right in about 100 meters
• Common sense would say that block is probably due to traffic turning right being held up by oncoming traffic or a signal
• But the driver see some space to his left which will get him ahead
• Well lets do that.. who cares about the traffic going straight anyway.. they can go to hell.
• So moves his vehicle closer to the intersection and blocks both lanes for traffic going straight
• The signal turns green but there is only one lane to run into
• Fight! Fight ! Fight! and cut people who were standing in line
• Victory.....Others be damned

• Driving along merrily looking for a parking spot on the side of a road
• Crosses the place he wishes to go
• Now the driver is getting antsy on the thought that they may have to park a little bit away from their intended destination
• Walking is bad for health
• I see a small spot not wide enough to park my car ..
• Who cares? I will park the car diagonally into the spot blocking the carriageway
• Others can go to hell.. Victory for me...

I can go on and on but I am saving them up for my dissertation..

Originally Posted by sachinpk

Stricter law enforcement can be a short term solution, but the long term solution of having disciplined drivers require a time change of 10-15 years. And that too by putting in consistent efforts to educate today's kids on defensive driving, good driving skills etc. hoping that when they get their DLs they would be a more civilised lot.

It will take at least 3-4 generations before any significant number of drivers understand what disciplined driving means and the advantages of driving so. The government is not going to increase the barrier to getting a driving license anytime in the near future (there was a rule passed in tamilnadu not so long ago which said that you have to be able to read tamil or english to get a driving license.. Guess what happened to it...)..
A lot of folks who drive have no idea that they are doing something wrong by cutting lanes, not standing in a line to turn, driving on shoulders, driving on one ways etc etc..) That is what they have seen everyone doing and as far as they are concerned that is the right way of driving. A vast majority of people have no idea what following rules will do them or to others . This is akin to driving with high beam inside the city which was taught as the right thing to do for a lot of people (heck my driving instructor told me as such when I was learning).
Will we see a change in a attitude of a people? Perhaps a few.. The parents of kids who have been exposed to what disciplined driving does to overall traffic will try to teach their kids.. but that is probably .001% of the population. The rest of kids are watching their parent drive with no regards for others on the road and think that is the right way to drive. The problem with our country is that we are so many.. Even if you attack the problem and change a million people, there are a few hundred million left..All it takes is one to ruin it for others..

[ashwin.terminat]

Another day, another rant.

I do not what these cops are doing at the Murugeshpalya Junction near Kemp Fort (or Total Mall). The jam was backed up a L-O-N-G way yesterday. It took me a good 25 minutes to cover this distance.

I have told BTP about this, but looks like they could be least bothered to act. This has been the case for a month or so now.

I agree with what etrast said, the jams at the Manipal Hospital Junction, Brand Factory and Murugeshpalya junction are caused solely by people who want to turn left/right, and in a bid to take the turn faster, have gone around the already waiting traffic and are hence blocking the way for the traffic that is moving straight.

I have also seen people blocking the entrance to the flyover on Mission Road!

When will they ever learn? :(

[ambivalent_98]

For the past three days I get stuck on my way home to the mess that is Ecospace road and part of ORR which is so painful and will be getting worse with one more IT park set to open in between Intel and Ecospace. Apart from that there is a hotel-like property coming up which means more cabs and more mess. Apart from that in my tech park (RMZ Ecoworld) there are 24x7 operations of ANZ and Oracle ramping up. I wonder what kind of chaos is going to happen in the coming days.
What angers me is that the administration is not doing anything at all. All the security guards control road outside the gate of the tech parks as though it is their dominion and regulate traffic quite hopelessly.
The least that can be done is improve the tarmac so that at least broken roads , slower traffic is reduced somewhat.

[NPV]

Whitefielders beware, our friendly civic agency BWSSB has struck yet again
Big Bazaar signal to ABB junction via Hoodi Road, ATM junction took an hour!

I was wondering what could have happened to cause this insane jam and turns out that at the T junction near the erstwhile ABB signal (where vehicles heading towards KR Puram turn left and those heading towards Hoodi/ITPL turn right) the left lanes are blocked due to some water/sewage work being carried out - there is a BWSSB truck stationed there and couple of cops frantically waving their hands. To their credit, the cops have managed to remove/break the divider that existed there so at least one can go around the barricaded crater and get back onto the left lane ahead. This place was just recently asphalted so BWSSB has timed their job really well, as always
This was around 4:50pm when I reached the ABB junction.

[naveenroy]

After complaining and suffering the crater-roads on Madiwala Market road, I finally did the right thing. Took my Impulse to work. Heaven. Those shocks absorb any crater on the road and I rip - when everyone else has to be careful. At least I reach office without getting irritated.

Originally Posted by etrast75

• Now the driver is getting antsy on the thought that they may have to park a little bit away from their intended destination
• Walking is bad for health
• I see a small spot not wide enough to park my car ..
• Who cares? I will park the car diagonally into the spot blocking the carriageway
• Others can go to hell.. Victory for me...

I guess that last line is the biggest problem we have here in India. IMHO.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

For the past three days I get stuck on my way home to the mess that is Ecospace road and part of ORR which is so painful and will be getting worse with one more IT park set to open in between Intel and Ecospace.

Tell me about it. It was horrible this week. On tuesday I took the rear exit of Adarsh and went till Carmelaram to get back on ORR. I tried different timings and anything after 4:45 is a risk. Huge number of TTs/cabs coming out of these IT parks at regular interval make sure that its always clogged. The narrow part in the service road near the drainage before ecospace is the main culprit. Rains will make it hell.

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

Apart from that there is a hotel-like property coming up which means more cabs and more mess.

Actually its better than an IT office. The traffic to a hotel would be much less. But I dread of an auto stand coming up here. Like the one in front of Ibis.

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

What angers me is that the administration is not doing anything at all. All the security guards control road outside the gate of the tech parks as though it is their dominion and regulate traffic quite hopelessly.
The least that can be done is improve the tarmac so that at least broken roads , slower traffic is reduced somewhat.

I have no hope of any improvements in this stretch in near future. It will only become worse.

[Mr_Bean]

If one has to ever witness the worst kind of traffic, it has to below the bellandhur and intel flyover. Early this week, it took me an hour to cross intel flyover and reach ecospace, started from a building located opposite the new horizon college, so it must be max 1 km, this was at 5 pm in the evening. People simply don't understand that driving on the wrong lane is not going to help ease the flow of traffic.