Rants on Bangalore's traffic situation

[DragonHawk]

Originally Posted by raghuram.cg

At 6pm - the traffic had piled up all the way upto Mahadevpura flyover. Folks going towards Silk Board from KR Puram side - beware! and try to take alternative routes

raghu

Well I was one of victim of this and experienced one hell of a ride on my way back home. Left at 4.45pm from Mahadevpura in my office cab and got down in Bilekahalli at 8pm. All in all 3.15mins to cover 20 odd kms and this has set a new record for my daily travel and I wonder how many more records will be set in coming days.

[karts]

Originally Posted by WindRide

No offence, but most European countries think otherwise.

.

No offence taken, But are our roads and public transport any match with that of the Europeans?

What I was trying to say was, let government do whatever it is supposed to do. Provide good smooth roads and good planned infrastructure and good public transport. Even after government doing all this, if the traffic cannot be made in control, then the government can ask the commuters to reduce usage of vehicles to de-congest. What raises my temper is the incompetence of government to provide what it is supposed to provide and ask us commuters to compensate for it.

To be honest, If I have good public transport, I will definitively avail that. I have been in Mumbai for 20+ years. I have never had the need for a car, even if I had one for a year, I hardly used it, because public transport (Autos, local trains, buses) were all so well connected. Public transport was lot more easier.

To sum it all, Its the Gok to be blamed for what bangalore looks like now. otherwise we would not be having 10000+ posts just for the rants, We do have thread for Mumbai & Chennai etc but those are not that active. Traffic is there everywhere, a good infrastructure reduces the stress even if there is traffic.

[msdivy]

Samsung bus has broke down in front of TATA showroom before AXA signal just now. So the road is effectively 1.5 lane.

[landcruiser123]

Originally Posted by karts

I see lot of members suggesting to use public transport, car pooling etc. Why should we use public transport/Car pool? We bought our cars so that we can travel to & fro to office or anywhere at our own convenience and at most comfort.

The problem is that you're forced to buy and use car because of lack of public transport. Imagine a situation where you could live with just 1 car at home.
Just an example: Imagine a situation with a good well planned metro system, you could be in electronic city by an 30 minutes from Hebbal. From there, you could take a feeder bus service which drops you to your office. If this move reduces a 1000 cars a day, the quality of city's air would improve, so would the quality of life of people.

The government and are right in asking you to use public transport, but with India's lack of public transport, it's a difficult task. I could consider it unreasonable right now.

Just because the government is not competent enough to maintain good roads and provide proper infrastructure, it is unfair to expect us to to find alternate mode of transport which is not great either.

The tech parks are growing vertically and at a rapid pace. The govt can't acquire land and build roads at the speed the tech parks grow. It's unreasonable to expect that. I know that the taxes aren't utilized well, but expanding roads isn't simple.

Originally Posted by WindRide

No offence, but most European countries think otherwise.

In my books, the blame is squarely on an abnormal increase in affluent human population within a relatively small land mass. Decongestion due to well thought-out Govt initiatives is the only long term sustainable solution.

Well said and I completely agree. I would spare the government/civic authorities on the subject of expansion of roads.

Decongestion is simple by introducing a good bus/metro service. Which the government is simply not doing to the level required.

Simple explanation: Assume a bus occupies the area of 4 cars. This bus can take 40-50 people, whereas 4 cars can only take 18-20 people. A metro rail+plus bus system would work like a dream.

[sandeepmohan]

When : 12/2
Departure Time : 435pm from ITPB
Destination : Cox Town via the standard route.
Commute Time : 2 hours
Distance : 14.5km

A horrible evening. Bumper to bumper traffic started right after Shantinektan and till Zuri. Regulars on this route will know why this happens. Absolutely no roads and right in front of a fancy hotel, is where it gets the worst. Traffic started flowing better after this point. A small amount of congestion for traffic taking a right, after Ittina Akala, the alley that leads to Devasandra. Traffic is moving though slowly due to the craters on the road. Left at hoodi, we're good. 50 meters before the U Turn approach to Graphite India Road and the jam starts again. This continues all the way till Decathalon. This is also the road where I need to pull over for a few seconds to pick up my wife. She works in the NGEF campus, where you have Red Rooster. It is a bit of a challenge for my wife to get in to the car as there are two wheelers all over the place. The little space that I leave from the kerb, so that the door can be opened, according to the two wheeler community, I am not supposed to do that. Oh well. Wife hops in and we proceed. For that 5-7 seconds or so I was stationary and to allow my wife to get in to the car, I get blasted (by the horn) from a car behind me. Lights flashing too. Impatience is everywhere. My mission is to get us home safe and hope the car does too, without a kink or a scratch. It is difficult. You gotto look everywhere. That tight left turn at the ABB "T" intersection is tricky. Stay calm, don't get in to the "I am first so screw you attitude". Just let them go. Traffic eases up after Decathalon and is the same even past Phoneix Market City. Lord; its a miracle. Life is good but not for long. About a km ahead, the jam starts again, a little after HP. This goes all the way till KR Puram station. I try not to stay on the clutch. If I am not going to be moving, I shift back to neutral. Must have done this a hundred times on this trip. Kr Puram station and leading up to tin factory is okay. One BMTC Volvo almost hit the car, thanks to an illegally parked truck the Volvo had to avoid. Instead of swerving in to me, the driver could have stopped and let me go, knowing that I was right beside him. In the process of slamming the brakes, I panic and hope that I don't get rear ended my a red automated new gen Nano. Past tin factory, the roads improve. There is some road atleast on old madras road. It is starting to break up beside Shell though. A short stop at the Big Bazaar traffic lights and we move on but only for a couple of hundred meters. Traffic is backed up all the way from the Ngef signal and reaches the Baiyapanhalli Metro station entry. A little over a month ago, I thought the changes made around the Ngef intersection was a good thing. It is now back to square one. While the signal stays green for a bit, traffic moves really slow so getting past this busy intersection can take time. I am somewhat relieved to finally reach the right turn leading in to Baiyapanhalli Road. Check google maps for the railway gate jam and there is none. Phew! Reached home. Even though we were sitting in the comfortable confines of a car, we are tired. I am happy to see my four year old. He's all excited to see us and we have no energy left to play with him.

As we settled down at home, our neighbour decides to visit. I am not in the mood. I sit for a while and leave. My wife and mother give company to the neighbour. We don't have a night guard at the apartment. With spitting rain and damp roads, the car is a mess and I can't stand the sight of it. I decide to wash the car. I have found this to be one of the best stress busters. No fancy spray gun stuff. I take out the bucket, a micro fibre towel and get to work. Don't know where I got the energy from. In the end, I am not happy at the dirty alloys. I wash them too.

Head back home, grab some dinner, try to watch Seven and I can't keep my eyes open any more. It is only 930pm. The voice of god (Morgan Freeman) is putting me to sleep. I call it quits at 10.

[null]

I somehow feel that traffic condition was relatively "a bit" better compared to previous weeks in central Bangalore. I suppose it is because of the patch work what happened on last Saturday night due to ministers visit.

[ambivalent_98]

Originally Posted by null

I somehow feel that traffic condition was relatively "a bit" better compared to previous weeks in central Bangalore. I suppose it is because of the patch work what happened on last Saturday night due to ministers visit.

I think central Bangalore has lots of ministers going up and down. So the roads are improved there first. Anyway if its the ministers visits that are going to get the roads fixed I would urge the minister to travel on ORR and its various service roads.
Basic good quality of road fixing (not throwing mud / cement stone mixture in potholes) is the quickest short term solution to get traffic moving and keep it flowing.
It should ease some pain if not all. In the long term all roads require some serious and drastic corrections

[bharat4ever]

A small rant.

I was exiting my IT building, turning towards the right, to join the service lane on the ORR. I was trying hard to squeeze in between oncoming traffic to turn right. Once I literally forced a cab driver to slow down his Indica, I proceeded to turn right.

Had moved an inch forward when I saw a pedestrian crossing right in front of my car from left to right. I had not seen him earlier, since I was participating in a game of "Who blinks first" with the cab driver. I applied my brakes immediately, and my car did not touch the pedestrian, but freaked him out.

Now I got an earful from him for driving like an "Idiot", even though I profusely apologized to him, and accepted my mistake. Actually, all I said was sorry, and I really was.

I know I am at fault for not looking at him prior to moving my car to turn, but isn't he also at fault? It was very evident that I was turning towards the right. I had my indicators on, and it was evident that I was inching closer to the turn.
Shouldn't he have waited till I completed my turn?

Also, even though I kept saying sorry, he kept screaming at me, and started saying "Sorry isn't enough", "Don't drive like an idiot", "Just because you own a car doesn't mean you can rule the road".
Honestly, the last comment was over the top and was unnecessary imo.

[FuelInjector]

slightly OT: me and a fellow BHPian were discussing traffic situation in bangalore. On interesting point we spoke was that soon, there would be no one wanting to buy a second hand car with Blr registration. Main reason being the amount of stress/strain it would have undergone, usage of clutch, suspension damages due to bad roads, AC vents clogging due to dust & pollution etc.
Not sure the magnification of this thought, though.

[Indian]

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

slightly OT: me and a fellow BHPian were discussing traffic situation in bangalore. On interesting point we spoke was that soon, there would be no one wanting to buy a second hand car with Blr registration. Main reason being the amount of stress/strain it would have undergone, usage of clutch, suspension damages due to bad roads, AC vents clogging due to dust & pollution etc.
Not sure the magnification of this thought, though.

Most of the BLR registered cars will be sold in BLR itself. So, if a car is relatively well maintained (given the conditions of roads), with regular servicing and replacement of worn out parts, I don't see any issue with second hand car market. Whether it is a new car or old car, I guess we BLReans need to shell out more on maintenance for worn out brake pads and clutch much sooner than other non-metropolitan places.

Coming back to topic, the traffic police also create more mess than it would have caused otherwise. One example is on Agara flyover, if you are coming from HSR layout towards Sarjapur road - have seen traffic cop stopping the vehicles coming on flyover to allow the vehicles coming from below the flyover to pass through. I don't know why is this needed, as it is a merging traffic and there is no junction to stop vehicles on flyover. Secondly the ever changing U-turns, ever changing one-ways without communicating to the public. E.g. the U-turn near Intel junction on ORR (if you are coming from Sarjpur side to get onto Ecospace) keeps changing everyday. Sometime you are allowed to take U-turn just before flyover, sometime you need to go below the flyover to take U-turn, sometimes there are two lanes to take U-turn, sometimes it is single lane. While you alight from Bellandur flyover, you should be noticing all these changes to make a quick judgement whether to go towards flyover or get onto service road to take U-turn. If there are any changes, traffic police should communicate to ORRCA and they in turn can communicate to the employees. Anyways, we can just rant, there is no solution in sight. Add to that the road condition of service road leading to Ecospace, it is literally a roller-coaster ride everyday.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by sunishsamuel

I would suggest it is high time to encourage companies like Ola and ZipGo to launch bus services and have them stabilize. BMTC cannot handle everything for various reasons. Subsidize services on not profitable routes, stagger them based on demand/availability than rigid time tables. Should be available 24x7

This is a good idea, but to be dealt with caution. ZipGo and Ola are essentially corporates whose only motive would be profit. They would focus only on routes which gives them profits, where as BMTC has a social obligation to run on routes which may not yield profits. So if Ola and ZipGo are allowed, either there should be a clear clause asking them to ply on non-profitable routes or their rates should be higher to cross-subsidize BMTC low revenue from non-profitable routes. Or else BMTC would have the same plight of Air India.

Originally Posted by karts

Why should we use public transport/Car pool? We bought our cars so that we can travel to & fro to office or anywhere at our own convenience and at most comfort.

Not pointing fingers at you. But this is precisely the problem which plagues Bangalore. People have money to buy car, and wants the liberty to drive it around the way they please. But as a country we have not developed in a holistic manner, so much so that we can't spread this out evenly. It is this kind of mentality which also leads to social tensions. Here we have one group who have a higher volume of disposable income quickly buying cars and then demanding that they should be given the maximum privileges and freedom. But there is a vast majority out there (in the city itself) so who still have to manage their own jobs, safety and transportation needs with less incomes. Compare this with Europe or US, where the entire country has got into a level that a car is affordable to every one, and so for all new developments it can be assumed that a person does own a car. That is not the case in India. Every one wants to travel to & for at their own convenience and in their own vehicle and we clearly see the results. Traffic jams and every one inconvenienced.

No offence taken, But are our roads and public transport any match with that of the Europeans?

We cannot blindly compare Europe to India. One thing many European country is as tiny as a state in India. Secondly their society is much more homogeneous than ours. Here we see an affluent techie family residing in a high rise, with their own servant folks residing in a slum near by. And off course the Europeans had the benefit of being the rulers, and had their economy built much more strongly (by looting their colonies off course). And off course we should compare the population density itself.

Originally Posted by vinjosep

IF implemented properly, than it is the best solution. If the existing roads in Bangalore have to be expanded, then there are only two options - either skywards or underneath!

If I take Metro as an example, then the solution of tunnelling is impractical.

Currently, can anyone rely on BMTC to get to an interview on the other side of Bangalore even if he/ she starts a few hours in advance? No.

The BMTC alone cannot be blamed for this. Because BMTC buses share the same roads as every other road vehicle. Their schedules go hay wire. I use BMTC for my daily commute for the past 6 months. We can see at some point of time no buses coming in, and suddenly we see around 10 buses (often 2-3 buses going to the same destination) just landing up in minutes. A traffic jam has got cleared some where, and all buses just rush in .

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Imagine a situation with a good well planned metro system, you could be in electronic city by an 30 minutes from Hebbal. From there, you could take a feeder bus service which drops you to your office. If this move reduces a 1000 cars a day, the quality of city's air would improve, so would the quality of life of people.

Mumbai (if I get my history right), works in this fashion. The suburban services are the actual back-bone. The BEST services are more of feeders. Know many people who say that driving in Mumbai is a bother, and better to rely on the suburban trains. Mumbai how ever had a big advantage. The first train ran in that city. Tracks were laid well in advance, according to the city's needs. Soon the city's new areas were also built based on the railway lines. Chennai also seems to have a similar setup, but requires some corrections (which I feel they would do). New Delhi realised the mistake of not having a good suburban train network and compensated it with a Metro line, which was built in record time. The benefits are there to see. Bangalore seems to be standing like a "deer in front of the car headlights", with no foresight or political will.

Originally Posted by Indian

One example is on Agara flyover, if you are coming from HSR layout towards Sarjapur road - have seen traffic cop stopping the vehicles coming on flyover to allow the vehicles coming from below the flyover to pass through. I don't know why is this needed, as it is a merging traffic and there is no junction to stop vehicles on flyover

BTP may be one of the better civic agency who at least wishes to speak to the public. Please highlight this concern (and your ideas) in the BCP Web site or their Facebook page. Especially the fly over part.

[kadurRacer]

I have given up!! cannot take stress of driving from Arekere to office at Mahadevapura. I tried via BTM, Harlur Road, Hosa Road, Yamlur Road, Inner ring road etc etc.. they are all the same!! I have given up!!

This week my car is at home, sleeping happily. I have completely moved on to ZipGo. ZipGo has few set of problems but importantly it lets me sleep while fellow Bangalore drivers are fighting for survival. Takes one and half hours more travel time than my car but I arrive fresh at home to play with my twin daughters. Thanks ZipGo.

One less car on Bangalore roads. My small contribution to these busy roads.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

Mumbai (if I get my history right), works in this fashion. The suburban services are the actual back-bone. The BEST services are more of feeders. Know many people who say that driving in Mumbai is a bother, and better to rely on the suburban trains. Mumbai how ever had a big advantage. The first train ran in that city. Tracks were laid well in advance, according to the city's needs. Soon the city's new areas were also built based on the railway lines. Chennai also seems to have a similar setup, but requires some corrections (which I feel they would do). New Delhi realized the mistake of not having a good suburban train network and compensated it with a Metro line, which was built in record time. The benefits are there to see. Bangalore seems to be standing like a "deer in front of the car headlights", with no foresight or political will.

Mumbai (Bombay) moves on loco. If the system fails, the entire city will come to a standstill. In some areas only autos are allowed while in some areas taxis are allowed.
Chennai has the luxury of both sub urban and MRTS. In fact MRTS commenced operations way back in 1997 but still it is now where near to full occupancy. This needs to be worked on.
Also the metro work is going on in full swing. Back in bangalore, lethargy seems to be the order of the day.
Instead of finding solutions as to how the roads can be decongested, they think of impractical idea like tunneled roads for this city. All of know when the metro services will kick off. Here the fundamental problem seems to be land acquisition.
Due to this the PRR has gone out of scope. And the spineless govt is thinking of tunneled roads.
First let them have the guts to ban truck entry into city from 8 AM to 6 PM. Let them develop alternate roads in addition to improving the existing roads (Please Please use Tar for relaying the road/patchwork).

[sdp1975]

Originally Posted by kadurRacer

I have given up!! cannot take stress of driving from Arekere to office at Mahadevapura.I have completely moved on to ZipGo. ZipGo has few set of problems but importantly it lets me sleep while fellow Bangalore drivers are fighting for survival.

Is there an option to pay by cash after boarding the bus ?

What's the time taken from Arekere Gate to Mahadevapura ? Zipgo is certainly a good alternative to BMTC.

I stay close to Arekere gate, and there are hardly any direct BMTC buses to Silkboard. I have to change at Jayadeva flyover where I lose around 15 mins. Zipgo frequency looks far better. What are the problems you see with Zipgo ?

[rishie]

Originally Posted by bharat4ever

A small rant.
I was exiting my IT building, turning towards the right, to join the service lane on the ORR. I was trying hard to squeeze in between oncoming traffic to turn right. Once I literally forced a cab driver to slow down his Indica, I proceeded to turn right.

I was also in the exact same situation as yours, but in BTM, I was moving to merge onto the road, where I was looking at the moving traffic on the main road on the right side, I missed the lady who was trying to cross the road in front my car on the left side, even though I braked in time, and apologised, I got an earful, saying you are blind and don't kill people on the roads.

I was almost on the main road, and she jumped ahead of my car just for crossing the road, putting her life in risk, where she could have gone from behind the car or waited for the car to move out. Not sure when pedestrians would be using their common sense when on roads, and not their mouths after they find themselves in these situations.