[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Horizon81

Private vehicles are banned on the roads of HSR Layout on Sunday, 20th September. The move is aimed at "encouraging" more people to use public transport. Full report can be read at:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/48941236.cms

Good or bad move, BHPians? IMO, these stop-gap and attention grabbing measures are not the solution. Even if they want to showcase this as a pilot project, its in the wrong direction. The ideal pilot project should have been an announcement for and enforcement of zero tolerance towards traffic violations, big and small, in the same area. Repeating the same over at different areas will slowly but surely inject that road sense to the undisciplined on the road.

The powers that be, in their infinite, omniscient and all pervasive wisdom, have decreed the Great Kingdom of HSR Layout as a vehicle free zone next Sunday between 6am and 9pm.

The decree goes that no person or persons shall, for any reason not supported in writing by the Lord Privy Councillor of the Kingdom of HSR, be allowed to ply his or her personal motor vehicle/ contrivance or means of transportation on the fair pavements and wide unbroken roads of this fair land of HSR!

Misfeasances shall be punished with the wheels of the said contrivances being confiscated and festooned about the perpetrators ears!

All this is in the name of 'open streets' mind you!

Now I like the idea - it will probably be like those days of old when there was way less traffic and will be a throwback to times that most city bred people born in the 1970's and 1980's will probably remember- open streets, cricket, seven tiles and pesky noisy brats rushing about racing each other on bicycles etc.

Well, I welcome such fellas to wallow in their nostalgic memories on Sunday the 20th!

Now here's the current scenario in the Republic of HSR Layout which causes me to rant a bit;
1. Piles of rotting garbage everywhere.
2. Piles of construction rubble on every so-called footpath, causing chaos to pedestrians.
3. Street hawkers and food trucks all over the place.
4. Massive generation of food waste which is not disposed of properly and safely.
5. Suppose one were to wish to play a Sport, which necessitates taking ones' private vehicle, say, to the golf course the other side of town, then how does one come back? Or is one expected to stay out of the house until 9pm and then return?
6. Suppose there are elderly folks about who might need to do some grocery shopping or medical shopping, then how do they get about?
7. Suppose if the said elderly folk are physically unable to walk long distances and/ or physically unable to lever themselves onto what goes for
Public Transport in this place, or indeed walk upto the place where one is supposed to catch the said public transport?
8. What if a pet needs to go to the Vet and cant walk there?
9. What if a family wishes to take a Sunday drive out for a meal outside and come back?
10. If one were to bow down to this curiously draconian sounding dictum, then will the great Uncle Sid Jack and his Great State Powers that be, guarantee a full day long power cut free Sunday? So that at least those who are forcibly home bound, can sit and watch the Telly or listen to music and read in peace?

Now I do think 'vehicle free' Sundays and similar initiatives are great for sure, but not in isolation! The rest of the surrounding facilities and services need to work properly at first, if this kind of thing is to succeed!

As of now, it is a completely arbitrary, un thought out, draconian dictum and I am not sure it will work at all.

This will be reminiscent of the Bangalore cyclothon when many florid and perspiring members and wannabe members of the lycra brigade take to the roads and the authorities effectively cut one side of our city off from the other, in the name of the two wheeled pedal pushing automatons!

In India basically people buy private transport because it is a necessity and not a luxury; the public transportation systems are downright bad and over crowded anyway so most folk who can afford an alternative, simply take it.

This is why the roads are choked, apart from some of the other reasons given above.

All this kind of stuff as per this announcement, is just posing and posturing and completely unsustainable.

People will just revert to their bad old ways the moment this day passes!

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by Horizon81

Good or bad move, BHPians? IMO, these stop-gap and attention grabbing measures are not the solution. Even if they want to showcase this as a pilot project, its in the wrong direction.

Unfortunately this is a citizen-driven pilot project & a very poorly thought of one at that. These things can work in areas like Brigade & M.G Road where shopping & sight-seeing can be done on foot (& nearby areas can absorb the collateral damage of people parking vehicles there). This cannot work in residential areas where most of the people are out of their homes on Sundays. Some might walk & take public transport, some may use 2 or 4 wheelers & no one can infringe on that right.

At the end of the day, yes there are too many vehicles in this city (2 wheelers & autos being the highest nationally). Its easy for people to say the usage must be curbed but no one likes to waste fuel more than necessary, what is going on is the minimum travel necessary to satisfy work-related/casual outings. That can no longer be reversed today.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by Horizon81

Good or bad move, BHPians?

So it is kind of reverse transport strike - private vehicles off road and only public vehicles in road. What if somebody wants to visit other neighborhoods, like Koramangala, BTM? Are they allowed?

[bharat4ever]

I stay near Somasundarapalya lake. I can guarantee that public transport will not ply near here. My only options will be to walk to Hosapalya / Parangipalya.

Also, for cars using the Kudlu gate shortcut to get to/from Electronic city, are they not allowed to pass through HSR as well?

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by Horizon81

Good or bad move, BHPians? IMO, these stop-gap and attention grabbing measures are not the solution. Even if they want to showcase this as a pilot project, its in the wrong direction. The ideal pilot project should have been an announcement for and enforcement of zero tolerance towards traffic violations, big and small, in the same area. Repeating the same over at different areas will slowly but surely inject that road sense to the undisciplined on the road.

Stupid move IMO by some people to grab media attention. The vehicle free zones should ideally be set up in CBDs and popular commercial areas. That will encourage people to use public transport to reach those places. Is our public transport upto the mark is a completely different discussion.

Banning private vehicles in a residential area is infringing on the right of a citizen. Numerous people will get affected by this move but our media houses will choose to ignore their plight.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Unfortunately this is a citizen-driven pilot project & a very poorly thought of one at that.

It was initiated by DULT, after "consulting" with the RWAs. In fact a meeting was convened for getting inputs and unfortunately, the participation was less from citizens (due to various reasons, No. 1 being, no one knew about it!). The outcome was that the RWA's gave a go ahead with the pilot. So I would blame the RWA's too for this.

Originally Posted by msdivy

So it is kind of reverse transport strike - private vehicles off road and only public vehicles in road. What if somebody wants to visit other neighborhoods, like Koramangala, BTM? Are they allowed?

We will have a lot of guests at our place on 20th, so need to tell them to take a detour via Bommanahalli-Hosapalaya or Haralur road.

Originally Posted by bharat4ever

I stay near Somasundarapalya lake. I can guarantee that public transport will not ply near here. My only options will be to walk to Hosapalya / Parangipalya.

Also, for cars using the Kudlu gate shortcut to get to/from Electronic city, are they not allowed to pass through HSR as well?

We are in the same boat It will be interesting to see how it is implemented. It will not be a smooth execution for sure!

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Stupid move IMO by some people to grab media attention. The vehicle free zones should ideally be set up in CBDs and popular commercial areas. That will encourage people to use public transport to reach those places. Is our public transport upto the mark is a completely different discussion.

Banning private vehicles in a residential area is infringing on the right of a citizen. Numerous people will get affected by this move but our media houses will choose to ignore their plight.

+1. This is just a publicity stunt to grab headlines (in the lines of Raahgiri).

[naveenroy]

Well, knowing the status of affairs here, I am certain this will turn out to be a flop - or will come to blows. And who will police the show - manage the whole thing? As in, not allow vehicles to ply, manage emergencies etc?

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

And who will police the show - manage the whole thing? As in, not allow vehicles to ply, manage emergencies etc?

It has to be the Bangalore City Traffic Police - East Division (and if things becomes unruly) the L&O Police force of the South East Division .

[mpksuhas]

Traffic alert- ORR - Kadubeesinahalli - Bellandur

ORR from Kadubeesinahalli underpass towards Bellandur is having slow moving traffic since past half hour.

New horizon college is having some function and due to which the service road was a mess since afternoon.

Guess the block now is due to same reason.

[JD1]

We have been ranting about how unruly and uncivilized bikers in Bangalore are so have a look at this video - 2 men in a bike try to sneak past an elephant near Gorumara forest sanctuary in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district. Guess what happens next? Ofcourse that was stupid so elephant is going to attack! Fortunately it looks like elephant was more interested in bike than men so looks like they escaped but what stupidity!
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/new...tack/382808?hp

[satan's_valet]

Originally Posted by JD1

We have been ranting about how unruly and uncivilized bikers in Bangalore are so have a look at this video - 2 men in a bike try to sneak past an elephant near Gorumara forest sanctuary in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district. Guess what happens next? Ofcourse that was stupid so elephant is going to attack! Fortunately it looks like elephant was more interested in bike than men so looks like they escaped but what stupidity!
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/new...tack/382808?hp

Idiots indeed. They must have thought that when we can zip through cars and buses, one elephant is nothing.

OT: The elephant seems to be having fun with the helmet. It is playing around with it like a football.

[suresh_gs]

Folks: A MAJOR TRAFFIC ALERT

As you proceed towards silkboard beyond Mantri Sarovar, a BMTC bus has toppled on its side after hitting the flyover railings. It just happened minuted before i passed the spot around 6 15 AM. Hopefully the bus is cleared from the spot before peak hour rush.
So users BEWARE OF TRAFFIC JAM.

[Mr_Bean]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Folks: A MAJOR TRAFFIC ALERT

As you proceed towards silkboard beyond Mantri Sarovar, a BMTC bus has toppled on its side after hitting the flyover railings. It just happened minuted before i passed the spot around 6 15 AM. Hopefully the bus is cleared from the spot before peak hour rush.
So users BEWARE OF TRAFFIC JAM.

When I passed by at 8AM, efforts were still on to clear the bus.

Today morning, It took me 40 minutes from koramangala I Block to my office at Kadubisnahalli, I leave at 7:50 and normally it takes max 20 minutes. The traffic had piled up all the way till the foot of the agara flyover at 8AM, expect longer commute times today.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by Mr_Bean

When I passed by at 8AM, efforts were still on to clear the bus.

Today morning, It took me 40 minutes from koramangala I Block to my office at Kadubisnahalli, I leave at 7:50 and normally it takes max 20 minutes. The traffic had piled up all the way till the foot of the agara flyover at 8AM, expect longer commute times today.

Does it require nearly 2 hrs to lift a bus. When i crossed the spot, I did not see any cop around there except for curious onlookers likes cabbies. Heard that the bus was nearly empty and that couple of passengers suffered minor injuries. Thank God No Fatalities.
Knowing that it takes few minutes to create a traffic jam in bangalore due to bottlenecks, the cops should have swung into action promptly to clear the mess.

[NPV]

For all those folks ranting about Bangalore traffic, here's a temporary solution and it may help you get a different perspective..Get out of Bangalore for a week or two, this way you will also get to validate if the grass is really greener on the other side
I've been away for some time and I can now get the perspective of how it is elsewhere, so far it is heavenly compared to good ol' Bengaluru