[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

Found this imbecile on our roads today

Where was this ? I know of 3 places where people drive on wrong side in broad daylight even !!

1) Coming from Hoodi side, instead of going towards SAP Labs and taking a U-Turn at Ginger, people drive over to the wrong side to take a gap in median in front of RxDx. Saves about 2-3 kms.

3) Gap in front of Tata Motors / Junction connecting towards Alpine Eco - People take the opposite lane to reach WNS Centennial Park (Shell office), instead of going towards Graphite and taking U-turn at Ginger to come back. This saves a big 4-5 kms.

2) Lakme Salon / Near AECS Layout / Reliance Fresh - People come out of the lane inside AECS layout and drive over wrong side to sneak into the median gap to go towards Kundanahalli junction. Saves about 2 kms.

[binand]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

India simply does not possess the technology to lay concrete.

I was a student in Mumbai in the early nineties when the BMC took the decision to relay several arterial roads with concrete. I recall the huge debate around this decision, primarily focused on the cost and longevity.

Twenty years later, I spent a year in Mumbai earlier in the decade. The roads that were concretized back then were still pretty much intact. Whereas the much-touted interlocking tiles laid elsewhere (junctions, edges when roads were widened, around manholes etc.) were all in tatters.

[karts]

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

Found this imbecile on our roads today.

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

2) Lakme Salon / Near AECS Layout / Reliance Fresh - People come out of the lane inside AECS layout and drive over wrong side to sneak into the median gap to go towards Kundanahalli junction. Saves about 2 kms.

What will the younger generation learn when the elders commit such bad driving practices . yesterday saw an elderly person in his mid 70's going on the wrong side to get into road going towards kundanahalli at BEML layout junction, add to that a young guy was sitting alongside (What will he learn?) . Its just a ~ 400 m drive to take a U turn, and there is no traffic at all. This is at 2 PM. See the pictures.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by binand

Twenty years later, I spent a year in Mumbai earlier in the decade. The roads that were concretized back then were still pretty much intact. Whereas the much-touted interlocking tiles laid elsewhere (junctions, edges when roads were widened, around manholes etc.) were all in tatters.

Oh yes, I never doubted the resilience of such roads, many concrete roads laid here too have retained their form years on. Certain areas around my previous office were re-done similarly with concrete after months of suffering from poorly tarred roads (properly tarred ones can last just as long). I observed what they do over here, first they lay the little stones, then some sort of hay or fibre (presumably to enhance absorption or create evenness) then just lay the concrete flat with very little flattening or evening post the laying. What happens next is after drying the surface tends to have a lot of irregularities and up-downs which can be felt when driving as suttle wobbling. Personally I wish that they put a fine layer of tar over the concrete to have the best of both worlds i.e the toughness of cement & smoothness of bitumen.

[SunnyBoi]

Originally Posted by binand

I was a student in Mumbai in the early nineties when the BMC took the decision to relay several arterial roads with concrete. I recall the huge debate around this decision, primarily focused on the cost and longevity.

Twenty years later, I spent a year in Mumbai earlier in the decade. The roads that were concretized back then were still pretty much intact. Whereas the much-touted interlocking tiles laid elsewhere (junctions, edges when roads were widened, around manholes etc.) were all in tatters.

Here are couple of pictures of concrete road laying at Mysore. The concrete is over a foot tall (!) with a layer of rebar between. If done properly, it should last a very very long time.





Yes there will be terrible road noise when driving at speeds but do you think we'll ever cross 40KMPH on these roads with all these traffic?

[Equus]

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

I don't mean to nitpick, but I believe that if BTP uses the right spelling, people will actually focus on the message and not on the spelling errors.

Boose - Booze
Cruse - Cruise
Loose - Lose

Again, don't mean to nitpick. But there are a few people who in the process of giggling at the spelling errors, will miss out on the essence of the message altogether.

Its OK - you are not perfect, are you?

Really appreciate all the handwork and initiatives taken up by BTP. Kudos to them!! They have a super tough job, how many of us ack that???

[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

2) Lakme Salon / Near AECS Layout / Reliance Fresh - People come out of the lane inside AECS layout and drive over wrong side to sneak into the median gap to go towards Kundanahalli junction. Saves about 2 kms.

Right here. Seen umpteen people do this time and time again.

Originally Posted by Equus

Its OK - you are not perfect, are you?

Really appreciate all the handwork and initiatives taken up by BTP. Kudos to them!! They have a super tough job, how many of us ack that???

Whoa, easy there!

I did not say what I did to mock BTP. Nor am I undermining what they did.

Just that these small oversights can sometimes have bigger ramifications in people not taking the message seriously. It is human nature to not pay attention to something that seems half done.

Anyway, if anyone wants to check the emission test history of any vehicle, this link will help:
http://www.karnatakapuc.in/ReportingUser/Scgr1.aspx

[dark.knight]

Since the past few weeks I've had to stay back for work till about 7/8 p.m, after a couple of weeks of facing 1 km long jams, high-beams, frustrated motorists, dimly lit streets, I decided that peace of mind is more important than driving. In any case driving at an average of < 5 kmph is hardly enjoyable so I've been taking autos for the most part and even though I hate them to no end I'm happier now, zero stress - just kick back and inhale the polluted air for what its worth while he tackles the menacing traffic.

This city is too far gone to ever recover. The future of big cities lie only in mass transit or usage of lower polluting vehicles such as autos with their CNG. Its time I start adapting from now.

[hserus]

After a longish sequence of using zoomcars between bangalore city railway station and whitefield, I hit upon a new idea. Coming in on the morning Chennai Shatabdi, get off at bangalore city (or at cantonment if by some miracle it stops there), and just buy an unreserved ticket to Whitefield station.

The Shatabdi arrives at 10:50 and there's an express to Kakinada at around 11:20 that works great, or there's a slower shuttle train (DEMU / MEMU) that goes to some nearby small towns like Bangarpet / Marikuppam and back. 14 trains through the day.

I am in Whitefield station in less than an hour, and after that, maybe a fifteen minute ride (at that time, of course) to the office where I have a post lunch meeting + training set up.

I finish that, head back to Whitefield station, then catch the next convenient train back to Bangalore city station.

Of course the flip side is you will be buying a ticket in an unreserved coach, and the coach I was in was a bit crowded (no more than the average city bus) plus had the usual quota of characters - "blind" beggars, an old drunk who was fast asleep near the rather smelly (yes, within 15 minutes of the train leaving the station) toilets etc. If you are ok with that, then there's nothing at all like a quick train journey to speed you on your way.

If you want to get to downtown bangalore, there's locals that will drop you off at Byappanahalli and you can catch the (much nicer!) metro from there. That's a direct line - indira nagar / ulsoor / trinity circle / mg road.

onward -

http://indiarailinfo.com/search/beng...-wfd/136/0/993

return -

http://indiarailinfo.com/search/whit...-sbc/993/0/136

[vinjosep]

For a change there were police personnel near the Graphite India junction at 6:45AM and a cabbie was caught right in front of me going the wrong way (from Graphite towards Kundanahalli side), with the hazards switched on.

Good start to the day

[ampere]

Originally Posted by hserus

After a longish sequence of using zoomcars between bangalore city railway station and whitefield, I hit upon a new idea. Coming in on the morning Chennai Shatabdi, get off at bangalore city (or at cantonment if by some miracle it stops there), and just buy an unreserved ticket to Whitefield station.

Thats the other problem with Whitefield. Its on the the mainline and has only 2 lines, which are primarily consumed by long distance trains. Most of the DMUs run on the Hosur line. What ever few which run on the mainline are again for commuters beyond Bangalore. Adding more trains on the local section will be quite difficult. But yes its a good food for thought to supplement the metro with locals on the main line.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by vinjosep

a cabbie was caught right in front of me going the wrong way (from Graphite towards Kundanahalli side)

There are three or four points on that road (which others have raised as well) that are happy hunting grounds for any cops on a fine collection drive. I am surprised they have left the various tempo travelers, indicas, pavement riding bikes, wrong direction travelers etc alone so far. Well, I hope they reap a rich windfall from their day well spent at Graphite, and decide to keep cops there permanently.

Originally Posted by ampere

Thats the other problem with Whitefield. Its on the the mainline and has only 2 lines, which are primarily consumed by long distance trains. Most of the DMUs run on the Hosur line. What ever few which run on the mainline are again for commuters beyond Bangalore.

That is fine. 14 trains each way, at different times of the day, including a concentration of trains at peak hours. No matter that the train is going on to kakinada, chennai or wherever, as long as you can get on and get off at whitefield.

By the way, last time I was there, there was a guy I met at the station, who apparently lives near the Hope Farm junction and whose office is in Brigade Metropolis. He was going one stop down the line to KR Puram and catching a company bus from there, preferring it to driving from hope farm to the ITPL main road.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by hserus

After a longish sequence of using zoomcars between bangalore city railway station and whitefield, I hit upon a new idea. Coming in on the morning Chennai Shatabdi, get off at bangalore city (or at cantonment if by some miracle it stops there), and just buy an unreserved ticket to Whitefield station.

Bad Luck Mate, The Shatabdi from Chennai does not stop at Bangalore Cantonment. The only stop from Chennai to Mysore is Bangalore City. The other Shatabdi stops at Cantonment and Katpadi.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Bad Luck Mate, The Shatabdi from Chennai does not stop at Bangalore Cantonment. The only stop from Chennai to Mysore is Bangalore City. The other Shatabdi stops at Cantonment and Katpadi.

The morning shatabdi OCCASIONALLY stops at cantonment - when they receive a stop signal because the line ahead isn't clear / their platform allocated at city isn't free yet because of a delayed train yet.

It isn't a scheduled stop, yes I agree. But please, please don't tell me that the shatabdi never stops at all there. There's this usual rush to the door of hopeful passengers who live near the cantonment area, if it stops for a minute or two they immediately get down, else return to their seats making disappointed noises.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by ampere

What ever few which run on the mainline are again for commuters beyond Bangalore.

Except for Sunday, there are a total of 11 pairs of local passenger trains that can ferry you between Bangalore Cantonment and Whitefield. They are a combination of passengers (Not express), EMU and DMU's. The average time between trains are 50min - 1 Hour. I guess this is about as much they can run on what is a fairly busy main line.