[audioholic]

Originally Posted by poloman

Metro East west corridor has carried over 1million passengers in 10 days. But not much visible reduction in number of vehicles across this stretch. Experts are saying people who normally travel by BMTC or company transport are mainly switching to metro. This is not an healthy trend. We need private vehicles to go off the roads. Competition between metro and BMTC is the last thing Bangalore needs at them moment.Last mile connectivity is still the issue.

Coincidentally I took the metro to work today. Was happy to see trains being fully seated at 630AM. Parked my Dio in City Railway station and took metro from there. However, from a practically point of view, its not so good for me at least until the north south line opens.

Will I save time? NO. Hell no. Morning ride took me 1hr 20 minutes from home to office though I took a cab from SV road to my office. In car it is on an average 40mins. In the evening I have to see if it makes any difference. I am still estimating 1.5hrs of travel which is the same as my car. Hence at this point only people from the West end of the city can use it to get to the East. But I think this is a small number. And again they have the outer ring road.

Will I save money? Not that much unless I get to travel from SV road to office by bus. This will further increase journey time. Two ways in metro will cost me 60 and public transport until the station from office will be another 150 both ways. This in addition to the fuel for my bike. I pay around 250-300 for fuel daily.

I think it will prove to be a good option if the rain starts since the city center will be jam packed. As of now planning to take the metro once a week only. Waiting for the north south line to open.

[poloman]

I am using metro for all my CBD works. Park my car in SV road station and take the train.SV road can accommodate 50 cars and is mostly full now. A major problem in metro is the waiting time for tickets. So they have to popularize smart cards. They have started delivering smart cards in bulk to offices if they apply.
I think BMTC has started Volvo buses to ITPL and Marathalli from SV road. This can really help the IT crowd. Still tin factory is the biggest bottleneck.

[mohammedismail]

Huge Traffic had piled up yesterday till MORE outlet from TIN Factory! I reached TIN Factory to realize that a cop has halted the traffic coming from Whitefield/Marathahalli near TIN Factory and is allowing traffic to pass from KR Puram Hanging bridge. Pretty sure some VVIP movement happening! Due to this thousands/Lacs of people wasted a few hours on the road yesterday. It was so frustrating to see the cop halting the traffic for a very long time during peak hours and at the very wrong place.

There was a Cab guy in Sumo who could not wait so long and took out his frustration by breaking the manual signal. The Cop had a huge wooden piece in his hand and he just threw that on the car and it hit the side profile of the car ! I'm sure the car would have some damage!

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by mohammedismail

Pretty sure some VVIP movement happening! Due to this thousands/Lacs of people wasted a few hours on the road yesterday. It was so frustrating to see the cop halting the traffic for a very long time during peak hours and at the very wrong place.

You are right! And I guess there seems to be too many VIP movement these days during the morning peak hours. The Traffic Police (especially the lower ranks) have no say in these movements, and perhaps they have also just given up.

[JD1]

I happened to see the newly opened footbridge at Forum Mall Koramangala (Raheja Arcade side) and it has always running escalators. I think I read somewhere that all new footbridges will have escalator mandatory on a private model basis (private companies pay rent and earn revenue from ads). If this is indeed the case for Ecospace footbridge, then it will surely help (though most people using Ecospace footbridge would be IT professionals so young and stairs should not be an issue).
Definitely one or more footbridges are needed at Marathahalli. You have to stop 10 times in that 100 metre stretch before and after the underpass as people will be crossing at different points per their convenience instead of crossing in groups.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by JD1

I happened to see the newly opened footbridge at Forum Mall Koramangala (Raheja Arcade side) and it has always running escalators. I think I read somewhere that all new footbridges will have escalator mandatory on a private model basis (private companies pay rent and earn revenue from ads). If this is indeed the case for Ecospace footbridge, then it will surely help (though most people using Ecospace footbridge would be IT professionals so young and stairs should not be an issue).
Definitely one or more footbridges are needed at Marathahalli. You have to stop 10 times in that 100 metre stretch before and after the underpass as people will be crossing at different points per their convenience instead of crossing in groups.

25 foot bridges were planned along ORR but nothing has materialized so far. Links: 23 of 25 skywalks planned by BDA still up in the air - No builders for skywalks in Bengaluru

For some unknown reasons, projects within city gets executes fast, while in ORR & beyond, nobody gives a damn. Think of it, Silkboard congestion started in 2004, turned epidemic in 2006. Now in 2016, nothing is done or has changed.

[sachinpk]

Major traffic jam (or accident) at Madivala PS, Ayyappa temple side?? Time: 2045hrs.

[hemanth.anand]

Today around 6:45PM i was waiting in the toll lane of NECE road entry in EC.
all the lanes were full. even the last lane which is theoritically a VIP/Emegency lane was operational and full.
Two ambulances came at an interval of 30 seconds of each other.
they somehow drove through all the vehicles, passed me and came near the toll gate.
there were three vehicles in front of the first ambulance.
Then a bus belonging to some company was in such a hurry that he went exactly behind it; not letting the other ambulance pass.

As if that was not enough, the guy at the toll gate collected toll from all the 3 vehicles in front of the first ambulance while both the sirens of the ambulances were blaring.
furthermore he collected the toll from the bus between the two ambulances too.
All these at a normal pace as if he was deaf

after a minute when i came to the toll gate...i angrily asked the toll collection guy why he couldn't have left the vehicles in front of the ambulance. all I got in reply was a wry smile.

I then told him that its more important to allow the vehicles to go free so that ambulances can pass than allowing politicians/police forces/government employees and their family circle.
He just gave me my toll ticket and i drove ahead

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

Major traffic jam (or accident) at Madivala PS, Ayyappa temple side?? Time: 2045hrs.

Traffic was still same when I could manage to get out from there around 10 PM. It took me 1.5 hours to reach home from EC , a distance of 18 kms. Why because :
a) Bus break down on BETL caused slow moving traffic on flyover.
b) People coming from bommanahalli or from BETL and moving towards ORR as usual go all the way till silkboard flyover and try to merge left. Caused slow moving traffic till silkboard flyover.
c) Traffic jam from St.Johns for God knows what reason caused huge traffic pileup till the silkboard flyover. Took me all of 40 mins to cross St.Johns signal.

I think I might shift permanently to BMTC. Atleast I can sit/stand without stressing myself!

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Traffic was still same when I could manage to get out from there around 10 PM. It took me 1.5 hours to reach home from EC , a distance of 18 kms. Why because :
a) Bus break down on BETL caused slow moving traffic on flyover.
b) People coming from bommanahalli or from BETL and moving towards ORR as usual go all the way till silkboard flyover and try to merge left. Caused slow moving traffic till silkboard flyover.
c) Traffic jam from St.Johns for God knows what reason caused huge traffic pileup till the silkboard flyover. Took me all of 40 mins to cross St.Johns signal.

I think I might shift permanently to BMTC. Atleast I can sit/stand without stressing myself!

An absolutely horrible day for me as well. I started from EC at 0730p and reached home at 1000p.

I spent more than 1h10m only from last 3 kms on BETL till St. John's and in 1st gear. For curiosity I checked my current location on Gmaps and set destination as St John's signal to find out the accuracy of Googlemaps estimation and it said 62 mins!! I checked the time by the clock and started to crawl ahead. The crawling was never ending and perhaps the worst by far. It finally took me 70 minutes. Thanks to Madiwala Signal atop underpass and traffic cops apathy towards converting the Main road into a Private Bus Stop and all the South bound B9Rs wanting to make a U Turn at St John's signal. It was perfect mayhem.

And it was only yesterday that I gambled between NICE and city route and took a brave decision to opt for the latter thinking traffic would ease up anyway in the next 20 minutes!

And for me, there was no accident on BETL as I realised the reason for crawl was just Madiwala to st. John's.

And I was lucky again as at the next Signal after St. John's, there was BMTC bus that had broke down heading towards Adugodi and help had arrived with a tow truck and at least half a dozen cops walking away from it the moment the tow truck started.

And no, zero jams from St John's till Home beyond Hebbal!!

[chandrda]

A Car carrier trailer had broken down right at the entrance of the Kadubeesanahalli Under on the outer ring road towards Marathahalli. If you are planning to take left and not the under pass, then expect some traffic jam.

Regards

[NPV]

Last evening, had a harrowing time in traffic while heading to the Chinnaswamy stadium for the IPL match. Got stuck near Ulsoor lake for about an hour. Had to pick up someone on the way near the lake and finally parked the car near St.Johns Road and took an auto, who was our saviour

He quickly called couple of his friends, was advised that going via Dickenson Road/Kamaraj Road/MG Road/Cubbon Road would take forever took us on his own route
We went by some of the narrowest lanes in Shivajinagar, some I saw for the first time in my life...and in 10 minutes flat he was at Queens Road-Cubbon Road junction, right in front of our stadium gate. We missed the first 15 minutes of the match though.

Wow, that reminded me of the Pierce Brosnan (as James Bond) ad for Visa Credit cards where the driver takes him in a Tuk Tuk (auto rickshaw)!

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by NPV

Last evening, had a harrowing time in traffic while heading to the Chinnaswamy stadium for the IPL match.

Haven't tried it yet. However, have read news article that metro had planned for extended services during IPL match days. Since you stay near CV Raman nagar, I guess it may have been easier to park car at SV or Bypanahalli station and take metro.

Yes, you may not have been able to pick your friend from Ulsoor though

[NPV]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Since you stay near CV Raman nagar, I guess it may have been easier to park car at SV or Bypanahalli station and take metro.

Yes, you may not have been able to pick your friend from Ulsoor though

The metro is usually our choice for anything near MG Road but this time, my nephew could not reach MG Road alone from his home, so I had to pick him up. Tried Ola Cabs and autos, nothing nearby, had a shared Ola about 10 minutes away but it may not have worked out since we had a stopover on the way. Even regular autos from C V Raman Nagar refused when we said MG Road/Cubbon Road so it became a desperate situation forcing me to take the car (as a desperate measure!)

[NPV]

The KR Puram Railway underpass connecting Old Madras Road from the ITI side to the ITPL road-ORR junction near Whitefield Honda has not yet been opened for use.
Yesterday, I was stuck in a 15 minute traffic jam and got this:
There are 2 flexes here with the messages "The Road will be closed, sorry for the inconvenience" and "Railway underpass work will be completed shortly".



Not sure how much longer this is going to take.