[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by Vysakh

Man handling someone who committed a near murder attempt (your words) is probably justified.

Originally Posted by venkyhere

I hope you have been living long enough india to understand the way policemen behave - unless there is "pressure from the top" nothing happens - this "checking" for instance, is just eyewash - once a few cases are charged, you wont find any policeman in the later days. Beat cops hate their field work and sulk at the 'officer cadre' who sit in ac offices and belch orders. All the slapping and rude behavior is the frustration getting vented.
But I would just say that all such "infants" and "janani" bus drivers deserve a few slaps. However, I wish that the water tanker drivers get beaten up the most by the police

I could see many folks repeating the same stuff today, but there was no checking.

True that some of these folks deserves a slap and will not straighten out with just a Chelan.

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by binand

It seems many of Bangalore's traffic hotspots have Twitter accounts:

https://twitter.com/Mekhri_Circle
https://twitter.com/HebbalFlyover
https://twitter.com/KadugodiFlyover
https://twitter.com/SonyWorldJn
https://twitter.com/JayadevaFlyover
https://twitter.com/Kundalahalli
https://twitter.com/tin_factory
https://twitter.com/GraphiteSignal
https://twitter.com/silk_board

The humour content varies; so far my favourite is Silk Board - topical and funny.

Sample tweets:

"Traffic Update : Slow-moving traffic at Madivala due to bus breakdown at Secunderabad junction"

"FedEx delivery van drivers decide to re-brand themselves FedUp"

"Infosys, TCS & Wipro to confirm tickets for it onsite bound only after clearing mekhri circle"

Add to that

https://twitter.com/BETLFlyover

Though no regular updates like the others.

[Nempuguru]

Originally Posted by binand

The humour content varies; so far my favourite is Silk Board - topical and funny.

Sample tweets:

"Traffic Update : Slow-moving traffic at Madivala due to bus breakdown at Secunderabad junction"

"FedEx delivery van drivers decide to re-brand themselves FedUp"

"Infosys, TCS & Wipro to confirm tickets for it onsite bound only after clearing mekhri circle"

Whoever wants to start app based food joint, Silkboard signal gives them ample opportunity with brisk business.

Order food once car/cab/bus reaches HSR signal. Deliver food as the slow moving vehicle stops again due to signal turning red (2nd, 3rd or 'n' number of times). Take back waste, also feedback near silkboard signal where the vehicle stops for one last time. Idea patented

[krish11]

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

On 23rd September, I had posted this on BTP FB Page.

This is what I proposed -

Attachment 1445774

It used to take 20 minutes to cross that junction before. Now with the right turn blocked off, it takes less than 5 minutes.

Good to note that Traffic Police is taking note of the suggestions and implementing changes.

However this particular change has resulted in shifting the traffic blockage further down the road - specifically at the road crossing/traffic signal next to K.R Puram lake. What used to take a few minutes to cross, now takes at least 10-15 minutes at 8:30 am in the morning. Picture below is the traffic status at 6:30pm.

What adds to the mess is the poorly designed junction wherein the K.R.Puram lake actually intrudes into the highway - what starts out as a 4 lane highway gets squeezed to a 2-1/2 lane junction.

Traffic police should have done more due-diligence before implementing the change.

[sachinpk]

On Facebook I chanced to see some posts related to the protests launched by the people at Whitefield. These were more of posts which my friends shared etc. Some interesting observations:-
1. Many comments were actually questioning the corporates on their ethics. What has been their contribution on doing any activity which reduced the traffic? Or how much they contributed to having a better environment.
2. A comment which clearly got into my memory was - "Let the general crowd at Whitefield start conversing in Kannada (like the 1980s-1990s) instead of Hindi and Telugu; then we can think of improving the situation". I could sense two distinct groups here - IT v/s non-IT.
3. There were also a few comments asking people to use the public transport (and work on improving that), rather than demanding wider roads etc. The message was that Bangalore civic authorities need to not work on any thing which just helps the "Single Rider/Driver" (of a car), mainly belonging to the IT sector.

These kind of sentiments gave me a feeling that things are not very good, and the politicians can always pit one group against another. And there was another sarcastic comment; asking police men to video graph the striking crowd. The smart chap believed that once the video recording starts many of the IT folks would quickly run away, fearing an entry in police crime records which would scuttle their Police Clearance Certificates (PCC) required for passports etc .

Originally Posted by pratyush6

I live near the Byapanahalli metro and the only time it is useful is when I have to go shopping or to pubs or brunch to Indiranagar. Wait the road is rather free during the weekends... I still take the Metro, just for heck of it

If you are a pub hopper and stay near BYPL, Metro is a god given gift to you. You can avoid all the drunken drive checks which happen on Fridays and Saturday. And you are not going to cause problems for other people as well .

Originally Posted by gadadhar

I could see many folks repeating the same stuff today, but there was no checking.

The simple fact is that Bangalore Traffic Police does not have enough staff to check every single traffic offence, at every single junction, at any given point of time 24/7. They have to prioritise their tasks on a constant basis.

[PatchyBoy]

Originally Posted by krish11

However this particular change has resulted in shifting the traffic blockage further down the road - specifically at the road crossing/traffic signal next to K.R Puram lake. What used to take a few minutes to cross, now takes at least 10-15 minutes at 8:30 am in the morning.

This change only blocks the right turn at that signal. People intending to make that turn will now have to go a bit further ahead and make a U turn. I don't understand how this could cause a bottleneck at the TC Palya road signal. I live in Medahalli and use this road every single day. Even today evening when I was returning home from work, I had to wait for the lights to change only once.

[Chetan_Rao]

At risk of attracting an infraction, I'd say it's pretty obvious that the Bangalore public (replace with another IT city of choice and the observation stays valid) as a whole is pretty divided along IT/non-IT lines. It's not always malicious either, I've heard plenty of acquaintances remark casually along the lines "What trouble is bad infrastructure or anything else to you? You work in IT and can afford the solution to every problem". The funniest one I heard was a retort by a non-IT worker friend when I complained of daily commute hassles along the ORR belt; "What's your problem man? Your company allows you folks to work from home whenever you want. It's poor folks like us who are dragged to office 6 days a week. Stop moaning".

The divide gets ugly sometimes (as evident during incidents in IT-infested areas) but it's always there, benign and just beneath the surface at the best of times. It's also pretty obvious that IT has made life better only for a small minority overall (direct employees, real estate companies and such) while making it worse for the vast majority out there who've had to put up with an increasingly expensive and simultaneously worse quality of life for something they have nothing to do with. I'm no longer surprised at the hostility anymore, it's just an unfortunate by-product of bad planning and worse implementation as a whole, exacerbated by the ever-worsening divide alluded to earlier. Top it off with most public representatives being elected from the majority non-IT public, and it's no surprise that the intent and drive to fix these perceived IT area issues is practically non-existent. They have nothing to gain by pandering to this community, and it shows.


P.S. I've had the unique perspective of being a local, working for IT and also having lived a good chunk of my life outside Karnataka. The situation here is by no means unique, and neither side of the apparent divide is to be blamed any more or less than the other. We've all made this mess together, by whatever little or large we've contributed to it, knowingly or unknowingly.

[Vid6639]

New one way rule on Hosur road. Not published in news paper. BTP put up a FB post and result is absolute mayhem today at Konapanna Agrahara/E-city Phase 1 junction.

The service lanes have been made one way in same direction of traffic as main road between Konapanna Agrahara/E-city Phase 1 and Hosa road junction.

What this effectively means is that people working in Phase 2 and using the service lane to reach Hosa road in front of BMW showroom can no longer do this. They have to get onto the main Hosur road. Cops will not allow you to enter the service lane at Phase 1 side in front of PES-SE.

A colleague got royally stuck and warned me. I took the main road and the commute time back home is now 15mins more daily.

[poloman]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

At risk of attracting an infraction, I'd say it's pretty obvious that the Bangalore public (replace with another IT city of choice and the observation stays valid) as a whole is pretty divided along IT/non-IT lines. It's not always malicious either, I've heard plenty of acquaintances remark casually along the lines "What trouble is bad infrastructure or anything else to you? You work in IT and can afford the solution to every problem". The funniest one I heard was a retort by a non-IT worker friend when I complained of daily commute hassles along the ORR belt; "What's your problem man? Your company allows you folks to work from home whenever you want. It's poor folks like us who are dragged to office 6 days a week. Stop moaning".

The divide gets ugly sometimes (as evident during incidents in IT-infested areas) but it's always there, benign and just beneath the surface at the best of times. It's also pretty obvious that IT has made life better only for a small minority overall (direct employees, real estate companies and such) while making it worse for the vast majority out there who've had to put up with an increasingly expensive and simultaneously worse quality of life for something they have nothing to do with. I'm no longer surprised at the hostility anymore, it's just an unfortunate by-product of bad planning and worse implementation as a whole, exacerbated by the ever-worsening divide alluded to earlier. Top it off with most public representatives being elected from the majority non-IT public, and it's no surprise that the intent and drive to fix these perceived IT area issues is practically non-existent. They have nothing to gain by pandering to this community, and it shows.

This is what you call " killing the golden goose attitude". Some guys think IT guys are from another planet or born with a golden spoon in their mouth. The media and the flashy lifestyle of IT crowd is partly responsible for this. The starting salary of an IT engineer is atleast 50% less than the starting salary of a govt employee at the lowest grade. IT guys are atleast working from home not loitering around skipping your work. Case in point are the BBMP employees. What these guys do on a normal day is beyond me. It is very easy to put the entire blame on the IT industry and its employees after milking them to the hilt. Only in India it will be termed a crime or being sectarian or elitistic to ask for good roads. No wonder this place is such a pathetic state.

[nitheeshsreeram]

Originally Posted by poloman

This is what you call " killing the golden goose attitude". Some guys think IT guys are from another planet or born with a golden spoon in their mouth. .

I really need to second this point, i worked in IT in Bangalore and I had a life far away from flashy, sometimes it was a struggle. For a regular Joe in IT in a city like Bangalore life is just one pay cheque to another. Poor planning is to blame for the mess Bangalore is in, just wish IT guys were in the voters list

[WindRide]

Nattily dressed whitefield gents and ladies flashing placards splattered with English words isn't going to gather anyone's attention, except the media types. I heard the corporators didnt even discuss the protest in the meeting held 2nd half of the same day.
Anyway, 'rich' outsiders don't matter to the politicos, coz they don't vote. The sons-of-soil will not lose their sleep because you are burning a couple of extra hours worth of diesel in your AC car every day to and fro to work place, listening to foreign jing-jing tunes.

[sairamboko]

Warning!! Possible traffic alert!! Two trucks stranded on Ecospace flyover - HSR/Sarjapur towards Marathahalli direction. This was at 5:30am. Looks like one of the truck's rear axle is broken. I am not sure. It may have been fixed/moved.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by sairamboko

Warning!! Possible traffic alert!! Two trucks stranded on Ecospace flyover - HSR/Sarjapur towards Marathahalli direction. This was at 5:30am. Looks like one of the truck's rear axle is broken. I am not sure. It may have been fixed/moved.

Yep, I too saw three trucks (Tipper lorries) stationed on the extreme right side of the flyover.
So commuters, kindly drive on the left and middle lanes.

[john.gt]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

New one way rule on Hosur road. Not published in news paper. BTP put up a FB post and result is absolute mayhem today at Konapanna Agrahara/E-city Phase 1 junction.

The service lanes have been made one way in same direction of traffic as main road between Konapanna Agrahara/E-city Phase 1 and Hosa road junction.

I checked the BTP FB page and couldn't find any post relevant to this. I stay in an apartment on the service road. Yesterday night, traffic was allowed in the opposite direction on the service lane from Hosa Jn to EC Phase 1 and I could see vehicles today morning too.
One way signs have been kept on the service lanes at Hongasandra in the direction towards the city. But no one seem to be bothered with it. If the service lanes are indeed made unidirectional, I'll come to know in the evening and will update.

[krish11]

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

This change only blocks the right turn at that signal. People intending to make that turn will now have to go a bit further ahead and make a U turn. I don't understand how this could cause a bottleneck at the TC Palya road signal. I live in Medahalli and use this road every single day. Even today evening when I was returning home from work, I had to wait for the lights to change only once.

The smoother flow of traffic at K.R.Puram market now makes the traffic pile up at the next junction (TC Palya as you mention).

As I mentioned in my earlier post traffic police should have done more due diligence on the changes and taken a more holistic view of the traffic pattern at both the junctions and done the required changes - for e.g. widening the lane at the TC Palya junction by cutting down the width of the median which is broad at present OR increasing the "green light" time at TC palya junction for traffic flowing towards Hoskote etc.

Unfortunately it has become a practice to resolve a traffic problem at one junction - so what if the traffic congestion just moves on to the next junction down the road.